


The Ever Changing Life of Venom The Loser, lonely space goo of love

by In2lalaland



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Agender Character, Author Trying to be Funny, Bisexual Eddie Brock, Chocolate, Learning How to Human, M/M, Movie Remake, Multi, Past Infidelity, Symbrock Big Bang 2019, Threesome - M/M/Other, Venom in a bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 16:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18944620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/In2lalaland/pseuds/In2lalaland
Summary: John J Jameson is not having a great time, not only did he break both his legs in the crash that killed the rest of his crew, he’s also hearing voices in his head. Or more exactly, one voice that won’t shut up about being hungry all the time. Then just to make everything worse, here comes his asshole ex-husband Eddie, still looking far too good for John’s good.Venom on the other hand is having the time of it’s life. It got it’s very own host for the first time. There are so many tasty things to eat and places to explore, especially in his host and all the chemical reactions that happens when Eddie shows up.A story about reconciliation, finding love, scaring night nurses and eating one or two homophobes.





	1. In which our tiny hero arrives and finds a new home.

John Jonah Jameson III, in what looked to be his last moment of life, tried desperately to take control of the shuttle hurtling towards the earth's surface.  The warnings lights were flashing and all the alarms was screaming, reminding him of every emergency training he had ever taken a part in. But this was no drill in a controlled environment, this was a spacecraft leaning in a horrifying angle towards certain death. Pushed up against the consol, John tried to think beyond the panic and the confusion. Next to him, his co-pilot Mohamud was desperately trying connect the loose wires hanging from what used to be the main control. Through the windshield they could see nothing but sparks yet  they were all too aware of the earth surface that was closing in fast.

 

Their expedition had been not only flawlessly executed, they had gone far beyond what any other human ever had. They had even managed to successfully land and step out on an asteroid. And that was just the success of being the first, something that was nothing compared to what they had managed to bring from there. Just like their satellites had shown, they had found actual  _ alien _ life forms there, they were going to make history. If only the made it back to earth alive.

 

Until about ten minutes ago, none of them had any doubt that the top of the line LF1 would have any trouble getting them back to earth. That was before Captain Mayer had unbuckled himself in the middle of the re-entry sequence, gotten up, walked passed the two pilots and started ripping the console apart with what looked like his bare hands. The front of the panel had come loose with a snap, pieces of metal and plastic flying like bullets around the cockpit. As the alarms started blaring, no one had looked more shocked then the captain himself. 

 

And that’s when he had started to scream. The type of scream only the ones dying in pain can utter. As he fell to the floor, the pain obvious as his body started shaking, his arms and legs twisting in unnatural angles like they were breaking apart from under his skin. Linda who’s chair was closest unstrapped herself and ran up to him, checking for a pulse while Mohmed had reached for the controls and John for the computer. He had a moment of clear relief in the middle of the madness, that he had his friend with him, someone he could trust beyond everything. Their eyes met and then there was nothing but determination. They were not going to die there. Shouting suggestions and instructions to be heard over the alarm they almost missed the sound of Linda screaming in fear.

 

At first look it had seemed like thick dark blood was running down Lindas chest, then John realized that the red substance was in fact moving upwards.

 

“How the hell did that get out?!” Mohamed screamed, diving for the fire extinguisher under his seat.

 

Like something out of Lovecraft’s imagination, the alien stretched out over Lindas torso, looking like sticky gum -no, like living breathing mold. Like something evil and unstoppable.

 

“Get the container!” Linda screamed in pure terror, trying to stop the lifeform from crawling into her mouth. But Mohamud was already in motion, sprinting towards the storage hatch.

 

John blinked away his tears, forcing his shaky hands back onto the keyboard. How had the specimen gotten out? He had been the last one to check on it just before they had insinuated the re-entry. They had all been locked in, he was sure of it. Oh God, this was all his fault.

 

Something roared and the sound of the fire extinguisher going off could be heard behind him but John forced himself to stay where he was, trying to bypass the computers safety protocols in a desperate attempt to convince the shuttle to let him pilot it without any steering whatsoever. It wasn’t until he felt something grip a hold of his leg that he realized he could no longer hear Mohamud or Linda screaming. He looked down and saw the rippling alien goo crawling up the leg of his jumpsuit. Screaming in terror, he tried to kick it off but it was a lot stronger then it had been when they had caught it back at the astroid. How was this possible? It had seemed so innocent when they found it, so harmless. Now it was straight out of a nightmare, shapeless body stretched out like a cocoon over his leg. He could only watch, leaning against the vibrating remains of the consol as the alien started pushing against his skin.

 

Then a booming voice in his head screamed. **“No! Mine!”**

 

The alien rippled angrilly, twisting and pulling at John’s skin without result. It almost seemed to be in pain as it’s effort seemed to grow more and more desperate. But for whatever reason, it failed to attack John the way it had Linda.

 

As the shuttle started tipping over even further, something came rolling over the floor, hitting John in the hip. It was the transport container, covered in blood and pieces of Linda's long dark hair.

 

With shaking hands, sobbing in fear he held the container against his leg. Then with all his strength he managed to get a good hold of the slittering mass, scraping it off his tender skin. It resisted but only for a moment before letting itself be scoped into the pipe. He forced the container close around the creature, feeling that at least he had accomplished something in his last moment of life. He had trapped the monster and as long as the container didn’t break, it wouldn’t get the chance to hurt anyone else.

 

The shuttle let out a devastating whine, drowning out even the shrill of the alarm. It shuddered like something dying and John knew that this was it, the end.

 

The last thing he saw as the shuttle was ripped open was ink black oil crawling up over his body, swallowing him down into the darkness.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom had tried to brace as much as it could for the impact but there is not much left of the contraption to hang on to.

 

It had wrapped itself around it’s host as well as it could. Holding on tightly to protect it against the inevitable.  Unfortunately, it had not been able to cover it completely and some parts of it was left unprotected.

 

Venom had never been less happy about being smaller than the average Klyntar. If it had been big like Riot or Ferocity, it would have been able to wrap itself around his whole host with no problem. As it was, Venom had focused on the part in the middle that had all the soft pieces, the frontal limbs and the head. Venom liked heads, they were such a funny thing to have. 

 

The impact was horrible. They were thrown right across the cave, hitting the metal with a force unlike anything Venom had ever experienced. It screamed as it feels the hard bits inside of its host’s back limbs breaking, unable to do anything to protect them. They tumbled around helplessly as the contraption rolled, breaking apart as it slid along the ground. Venom managed to stick them to one of the lower parts, holding on as the vessel finally came to a stop.

 

Then everything was quiet, only the sound of fire burning somewhere and ticking sound of metal cooling. Venom listened to hear if any of the other hosts had survived but it already knew that it wouldn’t find anything. At least it’s own host was alive. 

 

“ **John** .” It called out, getting no response. “ **John** !” Venom searched through the host, finding that while the thing in the middle keeps pumping fluids, a lot of it was escaping through holes in the flesh. Venom is conflicted, it knows it should go and release Riot before anything else. It is in command and Venom is just there to follow orders. But there are no other hosts around and if Riot took Venom's host, it might die. Yes, that settled it. Riot, who is known for jumping between hosts, would not heal John like it should, Venom had to protect its host. There was plenty of time to free the rest of the horde, it could making sure that it’s host would live first. 

 

Venom didn’t know how to fix the hard bits in the middle so it focused on making sure that the fluids kept moving. It was very tricky, there were so many different directions that the fluid was moving and if it connected them wrong, the fluid stopped moving. There was a couple of times that the pumping thing in the middle stopped working and Venom had to squeeze it until it started functioning again. 

 

It was so concentrated on fixing it’s host that it almost missed the noise of  more creatures coming closer. As the first one came in, calling out as it started to explore the wreckage, Venom sank into its host, hiding deep so that it would not be found. There it waited and observed as the creatures closed in.

 

Venom had not had time to learn the language that seemed to be mostly built on sound waves but it guessed that they seemed happy to find Venom’s host alive. Venom was very proud of having been able to fix it’s host as much as it had on such a short amount of time. Especially since this really was Venom’s very first host. Being inside another, to share all what they were was a lot more overwhelming then it had imagined. There were so many parts that were connected in ways that it could not understand and so many chemicals rushing around from the brain out into the creature’s mass.

 

But confusing or not, Venom did feel that it had gotten the best host imaginable, even if it didn’t fully understand it yet. They were very pretty with their strange limbs and tiny heads. Also they were strangely gentle in a way that Venom had never experienced, especially in the way the creatures lifted it’s host out of the wreck and in to another small vessel. They were careful with the broken bits and they put something over its mouth that suddenly made the two empty organs in the middle work much better. It had wondered what those were for.

 

Venom simply sank back and watched in fascination. It didn’t know what these creatures called themselves, but from the first moment it had seen the awkwardly stumbling being coming out of its back on the big rock, it had wanted one more than anything. This was a life form that clearly needed all the help it could get to survive and Venom had known it would fit so well in one. 

 

When the vessel had first landed, everyone had wanted to be the one to take a host and explore the unknown. But Riot was the clan master and it’s orders were to be followed, and as much as Venom had wanted a host, it wouldn’t  dare to do anything out of place.

 

That Riot had even considered letting Venom come along on the scouting mission was beyond unexpected. It had of course soon been informed that it was there to sneak in undetected because it was so puny and since it was expendable, it didn't matter if the plan failed. It would have been insulted that it was being used as a disposable experiment, but the chance to have a host was so much more important.

 

Sneaking did not come natural to the Klyntars and Venom had been surprised by the revolutionary idea but also intrigued. Sliding along closely to the ground, Venom had closed in one one of the creatures while Ferocity had distracted it by letting itself be placed in some kind of see through cave. Venom had hidden under the dust and when the creature had put its back limb down on top of it,  Venom had sunk into the rippled underside of it. From there it was just a matter of letting the creature carry it in to it’s vessel. 

 

Inside it had quickly hidden under a ledge while the creature had shredded it’s protective layer and as the creature stepped over it, Venom took it’s chance and slipped right into it.

 

For a long time that followed, everything had been overwhelming. There was so much going on in the creature. Chemicals and body functions more complex than it could ever imagine. The brain was just bursting with energy and sparks that traveled all over the mass. It would take many passings for Venom to learn how they worked, but it was going to enjoy every moment of it.

 

Because if Venom had liked the creature just from looking at it, there was nothing like actually being in it. It was soft and warm, so very warm. Venom took a long rest just curling up against the pumping thing in the middle, purring happily at how comfortable it all was.

 

This was it’s very first host. How lucky it was to find such a great one. 

 

But the host was no longer such a comfortable place to be anymore. The hard bits inside the back limbs were broken and were poking out of the outer layer. Venom fought to create more of the fluids but that was such a complex procedure that it was constantly behind.

 

It could only watch as the creatures moved it's host from the small vessel into a big dwelling where everything was very white and bright. Venom could do nothing but watch.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-


	2. Venom has an adventure, whether it wants to or not.

Klyntar was at large a very hostile environment to live on. It was a place where a constant struggle for survival was a way of life and violence was the main communication. It was a horrible place but at this moment, Venom almost wanted to be back there because at least on Klyntar it knew what was going on.

 

The creatures were speaking very rapidly with each other, taking the host further into their dwelling. There was so much going on that Venom could barely keep track of what was happening. Everything was very bright and it made Venom uncomfortable.

 

While some of the creatures sliced the protective layer of the host, another couple pushed something down the hosts mouth and further down, making the empty organs work much better. Some started working on the back limbs, while some put something metallic against the front limb and pushed through the soft layer.

 

Venom was scandalized. How dare they?! They put a sharp thing in one of the limbs! Rude!

 

Outraged, Venom swam down and pushed it back out. It had been stabbed right into one of the fluid tunnels and Venom quickly repaired it to make sure it wasn’t leaking.

 

( _ “Nurse! Your IV needle is not attached” _ ) One of the creatures shouted at another. Venom was pleased it couldn’t understand it yet, it sounded like an obnoxious loser. Maybe it shouldn’t bother learning the language, it could understand it’s host just fine without it just from reading the signals from the brain. It didn’t need to understand the rest of the species. 

 

Venom who had traveled down to where the creatures were looking into the flesh and poking the broken hard bits, returned up to the front limb again because they put the sharp thing back! 

 

Rude!

 

Venom forced it back out, even if it was trickier this time since they had put something flat and sticky on the sharp thing, holding it to the limb.

 

Rude!

 

( _ “The needle is still out, nurse!” _ ) Venom wanted to strangle the obnoxious one. It’s soundwaves sounded annoyed with everyone.

 

They put the sharp thing back in the limb and then another in the other front limb. Venom wanted to crush them all but it had more important things to work on.

 

It went back to oversee the way the creatures were handling the broken bits. It slittered from one limb to the other, repairing tunnels and other fleshy bits the best it could. 

 

Then it was distracted by something happening to the front limbs. The creatures put some sort of tightening thing around the upper part of the limb, it was attached to some kind of… they called it a  _ blood pressure machine _ . The only word Venom understood was pressure and it soon figured out why.

 

It was getting tighter!  _ NO _ ! And the host’s mass wasn’t oozing out on the sides like it should under pressure! Something was very wrong!

 

Venom watched in rising panic how the fluid was getting cut off in the limb. They were damaging it’s host! It would not stand by and let anyone  _ damage _ its host.

 

( _ “What happened?” _ ) One of the white dressed creatures leaned over the limb it was trying to damage, pulling at the thin thing attached to the pressure maker.

 

( _ “The machine stopped working.” _ ) They were poking the tiny little glowing eyes on the pressure maker. Venom was very pleased, apparently all you needed to do was reach out against the pressure, through the thin tunnel and break apart all the bits it could reach. That was good to know.

 

( _ “Can someone get us a new blood pressure machine? Now!” _ )

 

Venom watched in outrage as they rolled a new one in. It was not getting another chance, Venom would protect its host.

 

They started to put the thing around the limb and then they had to jump out of the way.

 

( _ “How the hell did it tip over?” _ ) One of the white dressed ones shouted.

 

( _ “All of the wheals seemed to have come off. Also, two of the legs.” _ ) Another white dressed one spoke, looking over at the first one.

 

( _ “Quality is really going down hill at this place. _ ) It responded, kicking the pressure maker that Venom had fought off.

 

Venom didn't understand the words but the irritation was obvious. It was very pleased. It had won the battle. Venom was the winner, they were the losers!

 

_ (“Can someone check the pressure manually?” _ ) The obnoxious one was still making noise

 

Another tightening thing was looped around the limb but when Venom snuck in through the tunnel, there was nothing to destroy at the end, just a tiny dark cave that was squized uncomfortable around it. It went back down, trying to fight back against the pressure. It might have to expose itself if it had to, it was not going to let it’s host get damaged while they were one.

 

Before it could figure out what to do, the pressure stopped. The voices was more pleased now at their triumph. 

 

These creatures was very odd, Venom decided tiredly, but at least they seemed to have made the back limbs stop leaking. It sank down among the soft bits and concentrated on making more of the fluid. Above it, the creatures kept speaking and poking it’s host.

 

( _ “No trauma to the head, torso or pelvis found, both legs have multiple fractures.” _ )

 

( _ “Run him through the x-ray machine.” _ )

 

The host was moved further down a tunnel, into another white cave with a strange sort of limb hanging down over it’s host. It was probably another one of those things that John’s brain called machines. One moment the room was filled with creatures and the next they were left alone in the cave. What was going on? Something made a strange noise and then Venom grunted as the thing suddenly did something that made it itch uncomfortably. Another noise and then another wave of itching started. It curled up around one of the bigger hard bits, waiting until the tingling stopped. Whatever was going on it did not seem to be helping it’s host. The hard bits were still broken and the other layer was still leaking.

 

Then the creatures came back in and started arranging the metal limb to hang over where Venom was resting. They were turning things and speaking rapidly to each other in worried tones.

 

Feeling exposed it slithered away and up to the head, hiding behind the brain.

 

Another noise that had it shivering in discomfort came on again before ending just as fast. They came back in and started moving things again, focusing on the lower parts still. Venom watched them through one of the two hooded holes in the middle of the head. It made sure not to block off the flow since these creatures seemed to eat the atmosphere, digesting it in the two empty organs. Kind of like a plant. Such a strange species.

 

Venom watched on as the creatures seemed to be done with the noise maker, pushing Venoms host into another cave. 

 

They seemed concerned about the hard bits that were broken but did nothing to actually fix them, they simply lined them up and put metal on them to keep them together. The outer layer was held together with thin things that was poked through the parts that were not broken then they wrapped it all up and left them.

 

Venom was not pleased, it was going to have to figure out how they were supposed to look and fix them itself.

 

Much time passed before they were satisfied and by the time it’s host was left alone in a smaller cave, Venom was exhausted.

 

In all, things had worked out pretty well. The host was resting on a soft thing, it was healing pretty fast as Venom learned more and more how to repair it. There was still two sharp things in the front limbs but on the upside, it had realized that there was eatable fluids coming out of it. It might not taste very good but at least it was filling. 

 

Every now and then, a white dressed creature would come in and looked at the noise making machines next to where the host was resting. Venom very quickly grew annoyed with it, because every time it decided to move around in the host, the damned thing started making noise and someone came running. After the fifth time it had happened and the creatures had taken the noise maker machine away and replaced it with one that was exactly the same, Venom finally made the connection. When Venom moved, the fluids moved faster and that made the thing in the middle work harder and that in turn made the noise start up. Things quieted down a lot when all it had to do was make sure the pumping didn't speed up.

 

It also got a lot more boring when the creatures stopped coming around, but at least it had the time to figure out how to repair the broken hard bits in the back limbs. It was pretty tricky but as soon as it figured out how to create the structure, the actual reparation took barely a couple of seconds.

 

At that was when the boredom really set in.

 

Nothing happened, for a very long time.

 

At one point Venom got so bored it stuck its head out to chew the soft thing under the hosts head. That was entertaining for a while, especially after it broke open like the guts of a dirt crawler, leaving fluffy bits all over the ground. It was also entertaining to watch a creature chase the fluff all over the cave, trying to catch them all.

 

Venom tried to explore the cave as much as it could without leaving it’s host, but there was not much to find. Mostly it just nibbled things. It found a long thin thing on the ground that had a blue fluid inside it that tasted sharp and colored it’s tongue when it licked the metal tip that had a tiny round thing on top. That was fun for a while until it ate it. 

 

Then there was a tiny red square next to the host that made creatures come in when Venom poked it. That was also fun for a while until it accidently ate the tiny bits inside it. Then it was bored again. 

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

John was very surprised to wake up in a hospital. He could only vaguely remember the out of control shuttle and what he remembered didn’t make sense. It was all a blur of fear and panic. He could remember Mohamud running to help Linda and later, closing the container around the alien but everything else was just a blur. 

 

He had no idea where he was and how he had survived long enough to get there. 

 

**“John.”**

 

John twitched at the volume, blearily looking around to see where the voice was coming from. But seeing as he was in a single room, there were no other people in it. The only noise were coming from the machines connected to him that were beeping in a slow, steady rhythm.  His head was swimming, he was sure given the royal treatment here because he was high as a… something that was high up.

 

He fell back asleep before he could even start to wonder if he had just imagined someone talking to him.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

“-ucking lazy night nurses not doing their job. I bet it was Caroline again. Really, how hard is it to remember the change the drip bottle before you go?” A voice was muttering somewhere above him.

 

John peered up at the blurry shape next to the bed. He didn’t feel high anymore but he was still groggy as hell. He focused his eyes the best he could at the nurse by his head who were connecting a see through bottle to the dripp stand. 

 

**“It put a sharp thing in us.”** A outraged voice boomed what seemed like inside his head like a migraine. **“We should eat it!”**

 

John made a noise of discomfort. “I’m very gay, I don’t eat women.” He slurred, his throat feeling thick, like someone had poured sticky syrup down it.

 

The nurse startled with a laugh. “That’s good to know Mr Jameson.” She said, looking from John up to the heart monitor and back again. “Nice to see you awake so soon.” She pushed a call button only to frown when it apparently didn’t do what she wanted it to do. “ going to go find the doctor on round.” John tried to nod but didn’t manage more than a slight tilt. She seemed happy with that.

 

John swallowed a couple of times, trying to wet his dry throat. He wasn’t in pain and while both his legs appeared to be in casts, he could wiggle his toes. The rest of him seemed to be fine, surprisingly considering what he had been through. He tried and failed to get a glimpse through the window to figure out what hospital he was at, but the nurse had an american accent so it seemed like he had made it back to the right country at least. He had no idea where the shuttle had crashed but he knew they had at least been aiming at the right continent, the last he had seen.

 

He flexed his hand absently, testing the tightness of the tape holding the cannula.

 

**“They put the sharp thing in even after I pushed it out.”**

 

John look around the room. Had someone left a radio on? He glanced up at the heart monitor but as far as he could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary there.

 

**“That thing makes awful noise when the pumping thing in your middle goes faster. I make sure it doesn’t.”** The voice hissed sounding very satisfied with himself. 

 

It was then that John was starting to realize that while he had obviously been given some painkillers, he was not high enough to be imagining that there was a booming voice in his head, talking to him.

 

**“** **_John_ ** **.”** The voice boomed, making it feel like the inside of his head was rattling.

 

**“I’m hungry John. We should eat the one with the sharp thing. Eat it while it screams.”**

 

Taking a deep breath, he tried to stay calm. Something was very, very wrong here.

 

**“You are mine now John, I will take care of you. But we need to eat. Hungry!”**

 

John lifted a hand that felt far too heavy and thumped himself on the head a couple of times, trying to make the voice stop.

 

“ **Hungry** .” 

 

There was a short knock on the door and dark haired woman came in through the door, the white coat identifying her as the doctor he had been promised. “Mr Jameson, nice to see you awake.” She smiled gently in a way that made John nervous. No one smiled like that unless they had bad news. “We are a bit surprised to see you awake so soon.” She held a file on one arm and John almost didn’t want to ask.

 

“How am I doing?” His voice rasped, wishing he could get some water to get the sticky feeling out of his throat.

 

“Surprisingly well, we have found no evidence of internal bleeding or head trauma. To be completely honest, besides that multiple fractures in both legs, we can’t find much more than a lot of bruising. If I was more religious I would call it a miracle.”

 

“You might need to check again, I think something is wrong with my head.” John confessed, rubbing his forehead. 

 

“Oh? Can you describe it to me?”

 

John blinked up at the ceiling. How to even start? “It’s like there is this very loud voice in my head, telling me things. And when it talks my head starts throbbing like I’m about to have a migraine.”

 

She modded seriously, glancing down at the papers in her hand. “What kind of things does it tell you?”

 

“Mostly it whines like a child that is hungry.”

 

**“Not a child! Venom is fully developed!”**

 

The doctor looked like that had not been the answer she had expected. “I’ll book you in for a MRI scan as soon as possible.”

 

John did his best to nod, then he asked the question he had been dreading to ask. “What about the rest of my crew?”

 

And there was that gentle smile again as the doctor sadly shook her head, “I’m so sorry, they didn’t make it. They died on impact.”

 

John closed his eyes in sorrow. He had really like his crew, had been together with most of them since he had first been hired at the Life Foundation. 

 

This space exploration had been all of their dreams come true. To go on a real life exploration in space and not only search for, but find an alien life form. They had died doing what they loved but fuck if it didn’t feel unfair that they hadn’t made it back.

 

He closed his eyes and let the sorrow consume him. 

 

Thankfully, the voice in his head stayed quiet.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-


	3. In a different time, at a very different place. The creation of Venom.

It comes to life, comprehension of self growing as it slowly detached from it’s Maker. Cell by cell it creates itself, someone new where there were only another being before. There are no memories, only instincts and the dawn of awareness. 

 

It rips itself lose with one final pull and it falls to the ground with a splat. The new life has been formed. It’s rises gingerly from where the drop had flattened it against the hard, dusty surface, there it wobbles unsurethinly, oozing out to explore its surrounding. It can not see, only feel the roughness underneath it and the presence above it. It feels a lot of things that it can not identify until much later, things like hunger, confusion and most of all, loneliness. 

 

It tries to reach out to it’s Maker, thin strands rising up towards the hulking mass above it. 

 

A thick cord descends, giving it a rough prod. It feels it’s Makers mind connect to it, suddenly it is not alone anymore, it has someone there to share everything. It purrs happily, reaching out to wrap itself around all it can reach. Its Maker is searching its mind, pushing and pulling at newly formed cells. It does not know what the Maker is looking for, only that it suddenly feels it’s unmistakable rejection. It’s Maker is displeased with it’s creation. It is too small and too weak. 

 

**“Will try again next passing, this one has no strength, it will be a loser.”** It’s Makers voice echoes through it, leaving the young one hollow as it flattens itself to the ground to get away from that devastating disapproval. Smeared to the ground, clinging to any cracks in the dry dirt it can find it makes a noise of desperate longing for comfort.

 

But it's Maker does not care for such reactions and leaves, ignoring the dark strings reaching out towards it's retreating shape as it slides away.

 

All is quiet at its place of creation. The young one is left alone to make its own way to the collective. The presence of others is calling out to it. Instincts leads it forward and it learns to reach, to grab and pull its mass forward through hostile terrain. The route is long and while it’s mind evolves along the way it still feels so many things and none of them are pleasant. It want things they do not know, its whole being screaming for it. 

 

All around its surrounding is harsh and empty, rocks and death as long as its senses can reach. It doesn't find any traces to where it's going but some instinct inbedded in it's very being is telling it it's on the right way. It crawls over open width, the dirt so dry it’s nothing but cracks and dust. Its form stretches almost painfully thin to reach all the way to the top of huge boulders to pull itself over. It has started to developed eyes but its vision is still blurry and it can't make out anything but rough shapes. Depth perception is something that it will love as soon as it starts working, but before that it has a couple of mishaps.

 

It has its first experience of surprise the first time it tries to reach over what it thinks is flat ground, only to tumble down over the side of a cliff. It screeches in fright and confusion as it rolls, dragging up rocks and dirt in its path. It bounces against a boulder, barely escapes getting squashed under it as it tips over and finally lands with a slap, it's mass spread out flat as it hits the bottom. It does not understand pain but the surprise and helplessness it felt shocks it. It cries out again to it's Maker but once again there is no response.

 

It is in the bottom of this ravines that it comes across the dried remains of a creature. Something had ripped it open, emptying it of any organs it once had.

 

It reaches out a thin black string to touch the smooth cold scarles, caressing the broken body. The flesh is dry and cold, but instincts tells it to connect with the mind, to join in and not be alone anymore. But it's met with silence, there is no life left in the creature.

 

It consumes what is left. Its hunger is devastating and it’s sorrow over the death of the creature is greater than that. It absorbs the cadaver tenderly, in the only way it knows how to show its love for what could have been. It stays a long passage of time in that spot, hunched down as it tries to absorb the blood that had sunk into the ground. “ **MINE”** is it’s first conscious word as it hugs the dirt that has gone dark with dried blood and a few pieces of dried skin that it had scraped off the scull.

 

In the end it has to leave, it has to find the rest of its kind. It does not want to be alone, it wants to connect with another.

 

The longing is its only companion as it drags itself on, new and hungry for anything.

 

By the time it reaches the cluster it had grown twice its original size and it’s mind has evolved. It's eyes has finally reached its potential, making traveling so much easier. The collective is all gathered in the bottom of a massive pit, its rounded edges smooth from liquid bodies sliding over it for so long it was countless. There are other young ones present, rolling around on top of each other as the collective prods the newcomers curiously.

 

The new one feels joy as it reaches out towards his kind, wanting more than anything to lose the emptiness. It tumbles over the edge, rolling halfway down and then manages to slow down to a crawl to approach its kind. With its shape rippling in emotion it stretches out it’s thin strands, offering itself up to the cascade of life at the bottom of the pit.

 

But once again, rejection strikes. Again and again, the others pulls away as soon as the first connection touches. They hiss and strikes out towards it, dodges away as it tries to connect again.  **“Loser! Get away!”** They screech in outrage.

 

It curls up, it’s shape pulled thin and spun around itself in a knot that resemble the way the other youngs are wrapped around each other. It’s eyes never leave the cluster and it watches as the elders focused their attention on the young.

 

It watches it all in longing, wishing it knew how to change to be allowed in, to be accepted and welcomed. It watched and nothing changes.

 

It is only the beginning but life doesn't get easier for it.

 

It does everything it can think of to earn acceptance but it can never fool anyone. Everyone can sense what it is, even if itself does not understand what is so wrong.

 

**“You are weak!”** One of the other un-named tells him.  **“You lack the hunger. You can not take and you can not destroy!”**

 

It does not understand. It is hungry all the time and it does not comprehend how destroying things will make anything better.

 

But it tries to change. It learns to fight, to take what others have for itself and it learns how to hide it’s loneliness. It learns that strength, violence and domination is the only thing that matter. That there is nothing greater than beating others and owning everything that they are. 

 

It will make sure that it is not lonely forever, it will fight for it.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

John woke up, and for a second he was convinced that he was in fact a formless piece of goo from space. It took him several seconds of wiggling his toes and closing his fists to make himself believe that he actually did have arms and legs and was in fact human.

 

What the hell had just happen? Had he hallucinates in his sleep? Because that had not been a dream. It had felt like a memory. But while John sometimes felt like he had seen every alien space movie that had ever been made, he was very sure that he had never seen one like that.

 

It must have been a dream. Sometimes people reacted strangely to medicine. Or at least he was pretty sure he had read that somewhere.

 

There was a knock on the door and the smiling nurse came in. “Mr Jamerson, it’s time for the MRI.”

 

“Thank god.” John breathed out in relief. “My head is really fucking with me right now. I’m having nightmares out of this world.” He said, then laughed shortly at the unintentional joke. That dream really had been beyond freaky. It had felt so real, like he had been the one born on another planet.  With a body made of jelly, always hungry and so very lonely.

 

“I am not a lonely lump of goo.” he told himself quietly while pushing a scratching finger in under the cast. More to remind himself that he had legs then to fight a itch.

 

**“Not lonely anymore John, we are together now.”**

 

This MRI couldn’t come fast enough. Something was seriously wrong with his head.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom had worked it’s whole existence trying to be accepted, to not be alone. It wasn’t alone now, John was everywhere, but it was still not accepted. It was infuriating. 

 

As John was rolled down a tunnel with many lights hanging above them, Venom sulked behind the brain.

 

Venom really like it inside of John, there was so much to explore and so many tasty chemicals just rushing around all over.

 

It spent a lot of time wrapped around the brain, trying to translate the sparks so that it could understand the language better. It was not easy to grasp since it’s first impression had been true and most of the language was completely made up by soundwaves. It was all very annoying. Because while it could understand John’s words through it’s brain activity, it couldn’t understand the soundwaves that came out of the other creatures. Venom was not pleased.

 

It wondered how it was going to find its way back to the rest of the Klyntar expedition. Especially from inside a host who were pretending that it couldn't hear it. If it waited too long, it would get punished horribly. Riot was not known for it's patience.

 

But Venom was going to be in trouble anyway when it was reunited with it’s clan. One does not deny the clan head something it decided on, especially a host during a mission of such importance as this.

 

But Venom had made first contact and it had been the one who set Riot free inside the vessel. It was not it’s fault that Riot decided to start destroying everything and then couldn’t keep it’s host alive long enough to reach their goal.

 

But it doubted that Riot was going to see it that way the next time they met.

 

But John was such an amazing host and Venom didn’t want to lose it. It had nothing to do with the fact that John was Venoms very first host, John was just the best host. Venom couldn’t have given Riot it’s host, not when it always ruined it’s hosts, one by one. John was too valuable for that. Venom didn’t know what to do about the whole situation.

 

They were pushed into another white, well lit cave with a strange sort of machine in the middle. Other humans helped John over to lie down inside of it. 

 

There was much talking going around that it didn't follow, too busy looking around the strange thing they had been placed in. It was like a white short tunnel with lots of lights in it. The whole thing was very odd. Venom wondered what it was for.

 

There was a strange humming noise as the machine suddenly turned on. Venom had just enough time to realize that this was not going to end well when the pain sat in.

 

John screamed with it, their connection rippling as the unbearable pain rolled over them.

 

Venom tried to hold on but it had never spent any time inside another being and didn’t know how to latch on. Instead it abandoned it’s host, sliding off the flat surface and down to the ground, its mass a trembling bundle of pain and sorrow. It had lost it's host! It was all alone and it hurt! It tried to climb back up but couldn’t get a grip on the metal. It’s mass rippled and bubbled as it tried to get back up.

 

Other humans were talking to its host but John waved them away, laying back down into the machine.

 

Venom shivered in pain and anger as the machine started back up and the noise, that horrible noise spread once again.

 

Sliding over the ground as fast as it could, it hit the wall of the cave, following it blindly until it could forced itself in under the slim opening close to the ground where they had come through.

 

Venom found itself out in the long tunnel again, bright lights shining down at it. 

 

The relief of getting away from the noise was short lived. It’s only now, away from the cave that it notices the pain. This was another sort of pain, a slower burning one that reminded it of the burns that it had suffered when it was young and gave Venom it’s name. 

 

Every instinct it has is screaming at it that if it stays like this in the open, it would die.

 

Its options were limited. It can’t get back into it’s host so it will have to find another way.

 

Someone came out the same way it had just left, it's limbs lifted over it. Venom didn’t hesitate, it slipped right into the back limb of the creature. For a second it’s whole plan was to stick around in this new host until it went back into the cave where it had left John. This plan was quickly discarded for two reasons. The first was that the creature was moving in a completely different direction, moving away from it’s first host. The other was that the body seemed to be fighting Venom’s presens, like it considered it to be a disease. Venom desperately tried to sooth the body but it wasn’t working. The creature stumbled, grabbing a hold of another creature coming out from the other side of the tunnel before it fell down. It screamed in pain as it hit the ground, it’s body convulsing violently. The mass shivered and Venom could feel the creature dying around it.

 

As fast as it could, Venom threw itself out of the creature, seeping out on to the ground under what for just a few moments had been it’s host. Peeking out it watched the other creature put it’s mouth on it’s host before pushing over and over again where the pumping thing in the middle was.

 

It wanted to stay and find out if the creature would live, but it was once again in burning pain, and hurriedly Venom tumbled sideways trying to hide and get away.

 

The side of the tunnel suddenly slided opened, revealing a small cave made entirely by metal. In lack of other options, Venom slithered inside. There was a creature inside it but it was busy talking to someone Venom couldn’t see, stabbing one of the glowing circles on the side of the cave that looked like eyes. Maybe there was another type of being around so that the creatures could be a we as well. Maybe Venom had just not understood how these creatures connected? Maybe it had done it wrong?

 

Venom twisted itself in and out, trying to sooth the burning. Everything hurt, but it had lived through worse pain and knew that it would live through it for longer if it had to. But it needed somewhere to hide, to get relief without taking another host, it did not want to end up killing it’s host, it had not enjoyed that. 

 

The side of the cave opened up again and two creatures stepped in, one of them pushing a metal contraption with the same type of containers that had been connected to the sharp thing they had put in it’s host. It looked very much like those traps that it’s clan had been captured in back on the big rock, maybe it would serve as a refuge? Venom slided in close, trying not to be seen by the creatures. At least they seemed more interested in talking to each other than looking down at the ground.

 

_ (“Terry on seven called about needing more drip bottles.” _ )

 

_ (“What? I asked Caroline to take some up yesterday.”) _

 

_ (“Well they either used up a hell of a lot of bottles or Caroline forgot to do it.”) _

 

_ (“Oh for fuck sake, that girl is such a mess. I’ll take them myself. Can you take this trolly and dispose of the empty ones for me, please?”) _

 

_ (“Sure. But if you see that astronaut they have up there you need to give me all the gossip.”) _

 

_ (“Sure thing.”) _ the taller of the creatures spoke just as the side of the cave opened up and it started pushing the metal construction out of the cave.

 

As quick as it could, Venom grabbed a hold of the lower metal ledge, just in time as the creature started to roll it away. Barely hanging on to the edge its lower mass was getting extended as the contraption was pushed further away. Venom rippled in annoyance at the slippery surface that it couldn’t quite get a good grip of, only for it’s lower mass to get stuck in one of the rolling things, pulling it along until it lost it’s hold and Venom found itself squished against the ground. The humiliation!

 

But at least the bump it created made the creature stop, giving Venom a chance to scramble it’s way up on the edge to hide among the see through containers the creatures seemed to be calling bottles. Then they started rolling again and it crawled up on the first container it could reach. The hole on top was was so small, Venom could barely sense it. For once in it’s life it was thankful for the incident that had made it so much smaller than the rest of its species. Squeezing itself as thin as it possibly could, it forced itself through and in to the container.

 

The relief was instantaneous inside of the see through little cave. Venom tumbled around for a moment, soothing its hurting surface. Also there was some of that fluid from the sharp thing. Venom soaked up, happy for the snack before relaxing at the bottom.

 

It looked around as they entered a much smaller cave, one that was filled with containers in different sizes and colors.

 

The creature started moving the containers from the metal construction and Venom suddenly felt very exposed. It had nowhere to hide and it didn’t want to leave the safety of the bottle. There was a part of the side that had a white thing stuck on it to hide partly behind but it wasn’t enough, the creature would surely see it when it picked it up. Slim limbs reached out and grabbed a hold of its bottle. Venom slushed against the side as it was lifted up, not sure if it should try to look harmless or intimidating.

 

_ (“Jesus Christ, what the fuck did they do with this bottle?”) _ The creature muttered, holding Venom’s new refuge up in front of it’s tiny eyes.  _ (“That is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen. Fucking doctor students.”) _ It said, tipping it back and forth, making Venom slide around.  _ (“Probably Caroline again, she thinks she's so funny.”) _

 

It put the bottle down in a yellow hole, the edges high above it. Venom rippled in anger. Damnation! It put it in a hole! It wanted revenge for the insult, but instead it waited patiently until the creature left. There was more important things right now then honour and domination. When everything was quiet, Venom extracted a thin strand out of the top of the bottle and pulled itself and the container out of the hole. For a moment it almost lost it’s grip but managed to twist itself around until it could roll the vessel further in, away from the edge. It ended up among the other bottles up on a ledge. Venom rose up, looking closer at the rest of the containers, they seemed to be filled to the brim.

 

Venom’s tongue extended happily. It was hungry.


	4. Venom discovers chocolate

Caroline was more than a little annoyed. She was a fantastic nurse but no one here seemed to realize that. First she got shit for not exchanging a drip bottle that she was sure that she had in fact changed and for not filling the stock, that she was also sure she had done! And as if that wasn't enough, the day shift on the med floor was giving her shit as soon as she came in for playing some kind of prank on someone by painting a drip bottle or something. Caroline didn’t even know what was up with this place anymore, everyone had seemed so nice here at first but you play one trick on another nurse and suddenly you are branded as the antichrist. 

 

She checked the list, no that was her signature right there. She knew it! She knew she had restocked the bottles last night before she left. Clearly someone else had misplaced them, not her.

 

She rolled the trolly closer to the right shelf, checking the labels to make sure she got the right ones. Only, who puts back empty bottles among the new ones? What kind of bullshit was this?! The entire shelf was filled with empty bottles!Fuck! She just knew that she was going to be the one to get blamed for this.

 

She jumped in fright as a strange noise came from somewhere behind her. It sounded like something was rolling around on the floor. Had she pushed something off the table? She looked down but there was nothing by her feet and a quick bend of her knees showed that there was nothing under the table either. She turned around and for just a second she imagined that she saw something roll out the door she had left open. She must have imagined it. She stood up and closed the door before someone came in and gave her shit for leaving it open.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom was very pleased with it’s choice of refuge. The thing they called a bottle rolled very well when Venom pushed at the side in the direction it wanted to go. It had taken a while to figure out how hard to push and how to match the speed of the rolling bottle so that it didn’t just end up spinning round and round inside it.

 

It hadn’t managed to figure out how to get out of the cave. The part that opened had turned out to be trickier to open then it had expected so it had been forced to lay waiting until someone had come by to let it out.

 

First chance it got, Venom had been out in the long tunnel. Pushing the bottle into a quick roll it sped down the way it had come. At least that’s what Venom thought it did. There was no landmarks and everything looked the same. It didn’t know how to find it’s way back to John but it knew it had to try. It wouldn’t abandon it’s host, even if they hadn’t reached the point where they had a good relationship yet. But it had to try, Venom was no quitter.

 

It found the opening to the metal cave, but it would not open, no matter how many times Venom rammed the bottle into it.

 

There was a square eye furter up, kind of like the red eye that had been besides John that made people come running. Venom stared hard at the thing. It might grant it access to the cave, but it might also make creatures come running and then it could get captured.

 

Venom pushed the bottle until it was standing. Sending out a thin strand out the top, it slapped it against the eye. At first nothing happened, so Venom slapped it again, then another couple of times just to be sure. The last hit seemed to have done it because the cave opened up, letting Venom roll in. It wasn’t sure how the silver cave worked but it knew that when you went in, you went out somewhere else, that much had been obvious when they had rolled John away from it’s cave and to the horrible machine.

 

Venom reached out of the bottle, finding a long line of eyes up along the side. There was symbols on them that told Venom absolutely nothing so it started with the one on top, jabbing it with all it’s determination. It was going to find John.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom had found nothing. There was just endless tunnels connected with endless caves that all contained different sleeping creatures but none of them was it’s host. It had gone back to the moving silver cave twice but the vessel just seemed to take it to yet another level of tunnels and caves.

 

Feeling lost and lonely, Venom rolled it’s bottle in under a machine in one of the tunnels. It was slightly warmer underneath it and venom could almost pretend that it was back inside of john. It missed it’s host!

 

It hadn’t gotten to be a we for very long and the isolation hurt even worse than before. 

 

It barely reacted as a creature walked up to stand in front of the machine. It wasn’t it’s host, so who cared what all these creatures were doing.

 

There was a sound of something falling inside the machine, hitting the sides along the way, followed by a thump as it hit the bottom. Venom found it vaguely interesting and rolled closer to see what was going on. It peered up at the creature that seemed to be peeling off the skin of something before eating it.

 

Venom was suddenly a lot more interested. It hadn’t eaten anything but the fluid from the bottles since it had arrived on this big rock. The fluid might be filling but it didn’t have a lot of taste.

 

It waited until the creature had left, then it rolled out to explore. Unfortunately it couldn’t get the bottle into the machine. It was too big and it kept getting stuck in the  It hesitated but hunger won over pain, making it leave it’s shelter.

 

It’s surface burned as it left the safety of the bottle but as it crawled into the opening in the machine, it found that it hurt a lot less inside of it. It could still feel a uncomfortable blistering hurt but it was not more than it could ignore. Also, there was so much to explore that it was truly distracted.

 

There was a lot of different things inside the machine, all with colorful skin.

 

Following the creatures example, Venom scredded the protective skin of the closest thing, a long square with brown and blue coloring. Not sure what it was going to taste like, Venom carefully scraped it’s teeth against the square, nibbling it. Then the flavour hit. Venom’s entire mass did a involuntary ripple as the soft brown thing was absorbed. It was amazing! The taste was like nothing it had ever discovered before and it could feel itself getting strength from the substance.

 

More! It needed more!

 

Venom shot out vines as far as it could reach, ripping into the protective skin of all the things. Mouth open wide it scrapped the tender entrailes in, devouring it with great joy.

 

Later it lay resting on bottom of the machine, purring happily over how full it was and how good all the sweet things had tasted. This big rock was the best thing that had ever happened to Venom. It had a host, it had sweet things and no one had called it a loser even once since it had arrived.

 

Sure, it didn't know where it’s host was, there was no more sweet and it hadn’t really spoken to anyone since it had arrived. It didn’t matter, Venom was one very pleased puddle so all was well.

 

It barely glanced up as a creature came to a stop in front of the machine, peering in to to see through side of it. It thumped a limb against it in obvious frustration. 

 

_ (“What the fuck! Who took all the candy?! Fucking PMS nurses! Fucking bitches!”) _ It whined like a young un-named, thumping the side again before staring down at Venom where it rested.

 

Venom was not pleased. It was trying to enjoy it’s rest and did not like some immature creature making noises. It liked it even less when the creature tried to reach in through the hole where Venom had climbed in. 

 

It hissed but the cretsure didn’t heed the warning. Venom decided that it was too full to eat the whole thing but it could eat at least one of the thin limbs that were reaching out towards it.

 

When the creature had finally stopped screaming and spreading fluids all over the place, it left to let Venom enjoy it’s rest.

 

After that satisfying break, Venom  went back to it’s bottle and continued it’s search. Tunnel after tunnel, cave after cave. It searched and searched. There was a lot of creatures lying in soft things but none of them were John.

 

The only good thing was that it had found plenty of those thin things with the blue fluid in them. Breaking them apart was entertaining, they tasted good and it had also found that if it dragged it’s stained tongue against the ground, it left blue marks. That was plenty of fun and Venom painted up dramatic Klyntar battles where it would lead destruction to all. It was so distracted that it almost got found as a creature walked in, seeming to search for something.

 

Venom quickly collected all it’s thin things and hid under a pile of large thin things where someone else had already spread blue fluids over.

 

_ (I can’t believe this! Who’s taking all the pens?!”) _ The creature started searching through all the ledges that Venom had just gone through.  _ (“Fucking doctor student needs to get their own pens and stop stealing them from my office.”) _

 

_ (“What the fuck!”) _ Venom hunkered down as the creature found it’s documentation of the Klyntar battle with Venom The Destroyer in lead position. _ (“Who throw up on my floor?! Wait, is that... ink? What kind of sick bastard…Caroline!”) _ The creature made a sound of outrage and stormed out, leaving the cave opening bare. Venom figured that it was time to retreat.

 

It tried to take all the thin things with it but the hole in the bottle was too thin and rolling while holding on to them turned out to be very tricky. They tasted too good to leave behind but in the end it had no choice but to eat them all at once.

 

The search went on, rolling from one side of the tunnels to the next. It listened carefully to approaching steps and made sure to hid whenever a creature crossed it’s path.

 

It had just rolled out of the silver cave, into a new tunnel when it saw something that made it’s mass ripple in rage. It was a pressure machine!

 

With a hissing battle cry, Venom rolled to attack. It shot a string out of the hole, hitting the machine straight in the limb. It rolled back, hitting the side of the tunnel, running away like a coward! 

 

Leaving the safety of the bottle, Venom went to attack again, leaping up towards the eyes. There it sank into the cracks, ripping it apart from the inside until only pulver and metal scraps remained.

 

Venom purred happily at its destruction as it returned to it’s bottle. The last thing it did before leaving was ripping the rolling things off, piling them up in the corner like heads.

 

Like a true klyntar, Venom had mutilated and defeated its enemy and there, just a little further away was it’s reward for great battle! A thin thing lay waiting for it in the middle of the tunnel.

 

With a snap it broke it apart, releasing it's reward. Venom licking the sticky smear up with a happy groan. It might not be filling but it did taste wonderful.

 

For a moment Venom entertained itself with smearing the blue fluid around on the ground, creating a slaughter scene in blue. It wanted everyone to see the story of it’s defeat of the pressure machine! 

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

It was just after midnight. Gemma had just finished her round and was making her way back towards the break room. She had a slice of blueberry pie along with her dinner and she had been looking forward to it for hours. She had earned it. Mr Thomas in room 26 had shit his pants three times the last two hours. That wouldn't have been a problem if he wasn't heavily demented and kept smearing it all over the place. But the old man was asleep now and the wards were quiet around her, nothing but the sound of the ventilation and the soft soles of her shoes against the linoleum. Gemma didn’t usually like working nights but since her girlfriend started her new job, they decided to work nights every five weeks to match up each others schedule. So, she didn’t like it but it was better than trying to fall asleep alone. There were of course some up sides. There was not as much to do and she might even had time to work on her knitting. There was no doctor students during the night who were in the way and there was less people eating the candy in the break room. She knew someone had filled the candy bowl at the end of their shift and from the last she had seen, there was at least three snicker bars just waiting for her.

 

She was just rounding the corner when a noise startled her, making her jump. It had sounded just like something rolling over the floor. She looked around, heart beating faster for reasons she couldn’t explain. It was just something about the midnight hour that set her on edge and the last thing she needed was some weird noise making her hyper aware of how alone she was right now. Rachel might be across the hall, but it wasn’t like she could call her over just because she freaked herself out over some random noise.

 

Thank god she was back on the dayshift after the weekend.

 

“Girl you are acting crazy.” She sang to herself under her breath, trying to lighten the mood.

 

Everything was quiet and there was nothing unusual to be seen.

 

She started walking again, singing pop songs softly under her breath to calm herself.

 

“It felt so wrong, it felt so right…” Her singing trailed off as she came upon a strange stain on the floor. It took her a moment to understand what she was seeing because her head immediately flashed over to every scary movie she had ever been forced to watch where there was a pool of blood smeared on the ground just before the monster got you.

 

Someone must have stepped on a ball point pen, breaking it open. But that was not the strange part. What made her stop and really take notice was the way the ink had been smeared. It looked like someone had licked the floor. But that was crazy, why would someone lick the floor? Someone probably had a wet whip in their pocket and then… what? Dried up some of the ink and then left the broken pieces of the pen lying in the middle of the floor?

 

Ok. She was officially over thinking things if she was wondering about a broken pen. 

 

Then she heard it again, a slow, hollow noise that sounded like it was getting closer. Like something was rolling or being dragged along the floor, somewhere behind her.

 

A chill went down her back.

 

“Hello?” She called out, feeling incredibly silly as she could hear her voice shaking. Everything was quiet again. She looked up and down the corridor, taking in the pale walls, a abandoned wheelchair, a broken blood pressure machine without it’s wheels that stood leaning against the wall.

 

She ducked into the first door because Mrs David surely needed another check in to make sure her readings were fine. 

 

Gemma focused on her breathing ignoring that she could still hear the rolling noise outside the door.

 

Mrs Davids slept on, uncaring that Gemma was having a mental break down by her bed.

 

Calling herself every kind of easily scared idiot, Gemma made herself leave the hospital room before she ended up waking the poor woman up. Slowly she eased the door open, listening carefully for any strange noises. Everything was quiet, no creepy invisible rolling things around. 

 

Hurrying her steps she made her way to the break room, singing about that cherry chapstick just a little bit higher.

 

She breathed out a sigh of relief as she closed the break room door behind her. The room was well lit and there was comfort eating to be had. She was safe from her own imagination in here.

 

Only...where was all the chocolate?! She had been so sure that there had still been candy in the bowl before she started her round and now it was completely empty. There was only her and Rachel there and she was on one of her vegan diets and didn’t eat milk chocolate. Could one of the patients left the room and eaten them? That seemed bizarre, surely she would have noticed it.

“Ok, not cool. Very freaky, not ok.” She mumbled, looking over her shoulder at the closed door.

 

She just about pissed her scrubs when there was a sound of a loud clang, like something knocking into something wooden. Like something  _ hollow _ had hit something wooden.

 

“No, no, no.” She whispered to herself as she forced herself to go check.

 

The corridor was as empty as before. Only, the door to Mr Jameson's, their astronaut’s room was open. It had  _ not _ been open the last time she had walked passed it, barely two minutes ago.

 

“No, no, no.” She whimpered, feeling like every bad clique from every horrible scary movie her piece of shit ex had ever made her watch.

 

The room was dark and nothing was out of place when she hovered in the doorway. She really needed to go home and cuddle her girlfriend in front of a Disney marathon because she was letting herself get scared over nothing.

 

Just as she started closing the door, there was a flash of reflection from under the bed as the light from the corridor bounced off the door. Gemma froze in terror as two pale eyes glared right at her from under the bed. A long row of sharp teeth slowly appeared in a devil like grin.

 

Fucking hell no! Gemma turned on her heel and ran toward the the next ward to find Rathel. No way in hell was she staying there alone. This place was clearly haunted!

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

  
  


John felt odd as he was rolled back into his room. His head felt strange, like it was suddenly uncomfortably light. Could a MRI change the size of your brain? Because surely there had not been so airy in his skull before.

 

He hoped they got some results because he did not want to ever do that again, the whole thing had been nothing but traumatic. No one had any explanation to why he had been in so much pain the first time around in the MRI machine. Someone had suggested a panic attack but John had dismissed that right away, he was a god damned astronaut, he did not panic from tight spaces and loud noises.

 

At least he didn’t have any voices in his head anymore, that was something to be thankful for.

 

But he felt strangely… lonely. He blamed two things for the stone like feeling inside him. First his dad had called from New York. He wasn’t going to get a chance to come visit until next week. John tried not to feel hurt that his father wasn’t going to drop everything and come see him at the hospital after very nearly dying. But the Daily Bugle was and would always be the most important thing in his father's life, it sucked but that was just the way it was.

 

And then there was the flowers that had been in his room when he got back. From Eddie. He had found himself thinking about Eddie as they rolled him back towards his room and the loneliness had first started to appear. Eddie would have been there for him, no question about it. He would have barged right in, making a complete mess out of everything and being loud and so fucking charming until everyone did what he wanted. He would have parked himself in the chair next to the bed and raised hell when the visiting hours were over. But he was not Eddies to hover over, not anymore. No matter how lonely John was in his hospital room.

 

But it did not help when he came back into his room and realized that the fucker had the nerve to send him flowers.

 

The bouquet had been big and beautiful and he had promptly asked one of the nurses to toss it out. 

 

Now he kind of regretted it, lilies had always been his favorite and it would have been nice to smell some flowers among all the disinfection and medication. Even if it was from his asshole of an ex husband.

 

John sighed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering how long he was going to be stuck at the hospital. If it was just the legs then it wasn’t like they could do anything about them. But if they found something on the scan… 

 

John suddenly felt that it was very hard to breath.

 

What if they found something one the scan that made him unfit to be a pilot?

 

John shivered in horror, cold sweat breaking out. No, that couldn’t happen. He had worked too hard to get to where he was, especially after Eddie fucked him over at NASA. He couldn’t lose this chance, not now. Not when they had found actual alien life forms.

 

Fuck

 

Fuck

 

Fuck.

 

Those picture just had to be clean, they just had to be.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

John woke up, suddenly unsure of what woke him up. He scratched the back of his hand, realizing that the needle was no longer attached to him. He must have pulled it out in his sleep. He was just lucky that it didn’t seem to be bleeding.

  
He fell back asleep, dreaming of a voice that purred  **“I found you, John.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to Demerite for all the inspiration and help with the hospital chapters. I couldn't have done it without you <3


	5. Another Loser Makes an Entry

John Jonah Jameson had always considered himself to be a reasonable person. He believed in science, in things you could prove and things you could see. He believed that if you did something wrong, you owned up to it. He believed in doing the right thing.

 

That was why he had very split emotions about his current situation. On one hand he knew that something was wrong and that he needed help. On the other he knew what happened to pilots who were branded mentally impaired. And on one hand he knew that trauma affected people differently but on the other hand he had a voice in his head complaining that it was hungry all the time.

 

The nurse had given him a wide eyed look when she had turned away for a moment to refill his water glass and by the time she was done, John had devoured his lunch. He had no other word for it. He had opened his mouth and shoved as much as he could into his mouth, swallowing it down without barely chewing. Devouring the dry meat and the runny potatoes like he was starving.

 

“Get it together Jamerson, you are fine. You are not letting this stop you. Just ignore it and it will go away. It's just your medication playing tricks on you. Your brain is fine and there is no reason for them to take you off the space program.” He told himself, ignoring that saying about talking to yourself being a sign of madness.

 

**“No, there is nothing wrong with your brain. I’m looking at it right now and it’s filled with so many tasty chemicals.”**

 

John sucked in air between his clenched teeth. “It’s not real. it’s not real, it’s not real, everything is fine. Shape up Jameson. Shape the fuck up.”

 

**“More! Eat more of the sweet one!”**

 

John looked over at the chocolate box that someone had sent him and before he even had time to think about it, stuffed his mouth full of them. The sticky filling bursted against his tongue as he chewed violently, the syrp gushing out at the sides of his mouth, running down his chin. 

 

The voice purred happily. John was too busy enjoying the taste to feel scared.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

A few days latter that John had spent in a constant frenzy for food, it was finally time to be released. John was beyond relieved. Hiding his own strange behaviour was exhausting.  At one point he had even been thankful that both his legs were in casts or he just might have gone looking for the kitchen to raid it. For some reason he really wanted some jello. Sweet wobbly jello. Strange, he normally didn’t even like jello.

 

There was a short knock on the door before a doctor came in. It wasn’t one he had seen before and he was sure he would have remembered this one.

 

The man was very good looking, like he had stepped right out of one of those medical dramas on tv where everyone was so unnecessarily pretty. It took a lot of effort to look him in the eye as they exchanged introductions and pleasantries when all he wanted to do was get a better look at the body hiding under that white coat.

 

**“You like this doctor better than the one with the fat sacks in front. You want to eat it? We can eat it, I bet it tastes so good.”**

 

“How are you feeling Mr. Jameson?”

 

“Much better, thank you. Ready to go home.”

 

“No more voices?” The doctor asked with his super model smile.

 

**“Venom does not like this doctor, let’s eat it. Lets rip its juice center out and devour it while it screams. That big head will be a great start to the collection.”**

 

“No more voices.” John agreed with what felt like a strained smile.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

John wanted nothing but to go home and sleep for a week.

Unfortunately , Mr. Drake wasn’t the most patient of men. John respected that, could understand. He had given a statement over the phone back when he had first woken up but Drake had insisted that he drop in at the Life Foundation lab for a follow up.

 

John hadn’t protested when the wheelchair adapted mini bus had taken him straight to the Life Foundation’s main office. How Mr Drake had gotten building permission at Kirby Cove, right next to the golden Gate bridge was a complete mystery, but John guessed that there had been a lot of money being handed to a lot of people who should have known better. Oh well, it made for a nice view when you took your lunch break. 

  
  


As he pushed his chair in to the  building, he was met with hugs and handshakes by various co-workers and plenty of people he had never met before.

 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and slightly bitter because where had all these people been when he was lying in the hospital, he hurried on towards the science department down in the basement. 

 

“Good to see you, Jameson!” his boss called out across the lab and John smiled as he rolled into the room. He had always liked his boss. The guy might be ruthless but he was also a brilliant scientist and a true visionary who honestly wanted to change the world for the better. John had great respect for that.

 

“The same Mr Drake. How are our alien lifeforms doing?”

 

From the way that friendly smile melted away he could only assume that the answer was not good.

 

Calton Drake shook his head in obvious despair. “We have not had a lot of luck with our symbiotes.”

 

“Symbiotes? You have managed to make contact with them?” John asked in awe. As far as he knew the lumps of goo were just primitive predators.

 

“Somewhat.” His boss punched in a code and led him through the opening doors. “They are truly fascinating creatures. The things we are learning its amazing. Unfortunately, incompetent personal and incompatible test subjects have resulted in the death of two out of our three symbiots.”

 

“Test subject?” John asked, wondering what kind of test subject you needed to communicate with aliens.

 

The question only seemed to make his boss even unhappier. “How about we go through the crash first and I’ll take you to see the lab after?”

 

“Sounds good.” John agreed. Drake was someone you should make sure to be on the right side of. The man could be ruthless and John loved his job, his paycheck and all his bonuses far too much to risk them with more questions.

 

They ended up  a windowless room, two chairs on one side of a metal table and the open space for a wheelchair on the other.

 

John who had expected being led into Drake’s office felt the first ripple of unease. There was no less than seven cameras in the room that he could see and that probably only meant that there was several more that he couldn’t spot. The door closed behind him, leaving him alone in the room for several minutes. He assumed it was to make him nervous. It was working.

 

The door opened and a stone faced man who looked to be in his last year of being middle age walked in to sit down on the other side of the table with a single piece of paper in front of him. John suddenly felt a whole lot more nervous. Was he going to lose his job over this? He hadn’t even considered that outcome. That lonely piece of paper did not make him feel better, neither did the man who looked like he hadn’t smiled since he heard about the last mass shooting.

 

The man did not introduce himself and John knew better then to try to make small talk. They sat quietly.

 

The door opened and Mr Drake walked in, making John breath a little easier. But he assumed that this as well was made on purpose. 

 

“Let's start.” Drake said cheerfully, taking a set at the table. “Tell me in your own words what happened.”

 

John swallowed awkwardly, wishing he had a glass of water. “We initiated the re entry. All checks had been clear. Everyone had done their rounds and reported in.”

 

“So up till this point nothing was out of the ordinary, no one was acting strangely?” Drake asked far too casually.

 

“No it-” John stopped himself for a moment but carried on. “The storage hatch opened and closed on its own when we went through the third safety checks, but everyone was already strapped in.”

 

Drake leaned forward. “You think it could have been the symbiotes? That it had gotten out and figured out how to open the door?”

 

“I- yes, I can’t think of any other time it could have gotten out.” 

 

“We reported in and started powering up the thruster. That's when Mathews... Captain Bernt stood up and destroyed the main control.”

 

“The Captain is in the seat behind you, correct?” The unnamed man spoke up for the first time.

 

John couldn’t help but stiffen as the man’s bored eyes fixed on him. “Yes.”

 

“So he walked passed you to get to the controls?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Did he do anything out of the ordinary?” Drake cut in. “Was he moving differently? Was he in pain?”

 

“No, the only strange thing was that he was out if his seat. We had started to enter the atmosphere and things were starting to become a bit bumpy, he would never have gotten up under normal circumstances. Never.”

 

“Then what happened? How did he destroy it?” The other man asked, face like a mask.

 

“He leaned down and took a hold of the edge of the main control and then he… pulled. I have no idea how it was even possible, it shouldn’t have been possible. Not even if he was strong enough to pull the cover off, the internal structure should not have come off just like that. But it did, the whole thing just came off.” John felt in his whole body how cold sweat started breaking out as he remembered “There was pieces of circuit cards and cables flying through the air and Mathews was just standing there. He looked surprised… like he didn’t know why he had done it. He was just looking at the mess in his hands.”

 

“So Captain Bernt was not aware of his actions in your opinion.”

 

John shock his head. “No, he looked just as shocked as the rest of us.”

 

“Then what happened?” The stone faced man asked in a voice that seemed designed to get on your nerves.

 

John went on to described how they had tried to take control of the shuttle and how Linda had screamed for help when the alien had lashed on to her. For a beat he almost told told them about how the alien had failed to sink into his skin but the almost manic look in Mr Drake’s eyes made him hold back. He would tell him the next time he came by. Right now he was not in the mood for them to run a bunch of tests on him to figure out why he couldn’t do whatever the alien had been trying to do. He just wanted to go home.

 

“Is there anything else you can think of?”

 

Besides that he seem to be going crazy? John shook his head. “No. “

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom perked up as they left the boring cave and moved towards the thing the creatures called a lab. Sitting around while the creatures talked might improve it’s understanding of the language but it was not fun in any way. This big rock seemed to be just filled with fun things and it could not understand why doing boring things in boring places seemed to take up so much of the creatures time.

 

The opening to another cave slid open and John and the smaller creature walked in. Venom watched the strange surrounding with interest. It didn’t know what it was seeing but it was a lot more interesting then where they came from.

 

Then, on the other side of the see-through side of the cave, it saw Riot. Venom felt itself sink down low, trying to hide from it’s horde leader who was without a doubt not pleased with it.

 

The creatures walked closer. It was unmistakably Riot stuck in that tube. It's dark red mass froze from where it had been sliding from one side to the other.

 

_ (“It's like it recognizes you!”) _ The smaller creature sounded happy, looking from Riot to John.

 

Riot rose up, its eyes materialized as it focused at Venom and its host.

 

_ (“This is amazing! Look at that, it looks like it has eyes! It has eyes!  And a mouth… with a lot of teeth, this is far beyond what we expected. Perhaps it’s mimicking us. Or perhaps this is it’s natural shape in it’s own environment.”) _

 

John shifted uncomfortably and Venom had to force itself not to tell its host to stand still and not look pathetic in front of its leader. It’s host never listened to it anyway. “Is is just me or does it look like it is smiling? Like, kind of a self satisfied smile?” John says uneasily.

 

_ (“Hm? No I think it just looks like that. It's not like it got a lot to smile about stuck in there.”) _

 

“True, I wouldn’t be smiling either if I was in a tube.” John said, but Venom knew better. Riot was aware just who it was looking at and it was pleased. It was the first time it had ever been happy to see Venom. Now that it thought about it, this was the first time anyone of it’s race had been pleased to see Venom. This was it’s chance! This was what Venom had waited it’s whole life for! It was going to be a hero to it’s people!

 

It rose up, taking over John's eyes just for a second, letting them go all white in greeting and acknowledgment so that its leader would know that it would be back.

 

Riots grin got even wider.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

John sighed, feeling tired and annoyed with himself. Why did he have to be so stubborn and stuck on showing some stupid macho attitude? Crash landed from space with his whole team dead? He'll just walk it off like an idiot. 

 

Thank god the Life Foundation had provided medical personal to help him even after he had turned down the rehabilitation resort. He had declined having someone with him all day but had agreed to have someone show up a couple of times a week to do the laundry, help him shower, take out the trash and do the dishes. He had been told that someone would arrive with food and any supplies he wanted but the voice in his head kept urging him on, pushing him to find food right now.

 

**“John! We are hungry! Hungry!”**

 

“Could you make a stop at a grocery store for me please?” He called out to the driver, well aware how much of a hassle it would be to get him in and out of the minibus. Hopefully the guy was being paid well to cater to spoiled clients. 

 

“You want some help in there?” The driver asked as he lowered the chair down to the parking lot with the lift in the back.

 

**“Chocolate! Feed us chocolate!”**

 

John imagined to look on the man’s face if he saw what John ended up buying. “Nah, I’m fine. I’m just going to get something for dinner. I’ll be right back.”

 

He rolled into the store, almost managing to smash his legs into the doors before they slid open. John barely noticed over the screaming in his head.

 

The store was an average supermarket that he had never been in before but most stores was structured vaguely the same way and the voice wouldn’t let him forget why he was there.

 

He was so hungry and having a voice chanting  **“Sweet things!”** in his head was not making things easier.

 

And that’s how he ended up in front of the bakery section.  **Cake** ! He picked up a huge, 10 inches round chocolate cake with thick dark frosting and delicate chocolate shavings on top. John could feel his mouth watering. He really should buy food as well, but this cake was something else. Like his lizard brain stood up and screamed this is what we need to survive.

 

He grabbed a fist full of snickers bars and another with smarties, then he was on his way towards the register. Food, he reminded himself over the sound of the voice. No one can live of just sugar and chocolate.

 

He went looking for some ground beef, figuring that meatloaf would be easy enough to make while sitting in a wheelchair. Actually, he should probably only buy food that could be cooked in the oven considering he couldn’t really reach the stove properly.

 

Being in a wheelchair was turning out to be a lot more complicated that he had imagined. With his legs sticking right out, it was difficult to get around corners and balancing everything in his lap was starting to feel doomed to fail. Eddie would have given him so much shit for not accepting the Life Foundations offer of sending him to a rehabilitation clinic in Florida. He could have had round the clock help, sitting in the sun drinking cocktails and eating like a king. But no, J. J. Jameson was a man’s man who could do it on his own. Fucking idiot.

 

But he did want the comfort of his own home, even if that made him an idiot. At least he wasn’t in pain. He hadn’t even taken any painkillers since he left the hospital. They must have done a really good job on his legs, he couldn’t even tell they were broken.

 

With two bags filled with chocolate and sugar and a vague idea of a actual meal, John went back to his ride. He worked very hard to not give any sign that there was a voice screaming in his head to push his face into the bag in his lap.

 

**“Eat the cake!”** The voice screamed for what felt like the thousandth time. John could carely control his hands, forcing them down from where they kept sneaking into the bag.

 

**“John! John, aren’t you hungry? Aren’t your inside screaming to be filled? You have chocolate, eat the chocolate. It’s right there, take it out off it’s skin. Eat it.”**

 

His hands were almost shaking by the time he got home. All he really wanted to do was bury his face in the cake and eat it all like an animal. But John had a hell of a lot more discipline then that so he took his time putting everything away, arranging it in the refrigerator, opening a window to let in some air, putting the clothes in his bag in the laundry basket. Then, only then when he was done he allowed himself to get a knife and a plate out. All the while the voice in his head was chanting “ **Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!”**

 

He cut a large piece of the cake, bigger then he would ever have done under normal circumstances. At the first bite, he could practically feel his jaw unlatching to widen up. Before he could stop himself he had a fist full of cake pressed up against the roof of his mouth. It tasted so good! The thick chocolate cream was the best thing he had ever eaten and he licked his sticky fingers with a tongue that felt longer and thicker. But who cared, because this cake, this cake was his life. He was going to eat nothing but this for the rest of his life. Dragging the now lopsided cake closer, John fisted two hands full, smearing chocolate and sponge cake all over as he squished it against his face. There was pieces falling out of his mouth, raining into his lap, chocolate filling was running down his arms, in under his crispy white shirt. And John had never been happier as he used both hands to scrape up the last of the demolished cake.

 

He loved cake! Cake was the best! Chocolate was amazing!

 

There was only when there was no more cake and he had finished licking himself down to his elbows that John started to realize that something was very wrong. What had he just done? Why had he just done that?

All that was left was a brown smear where the huge cake used to be.

 

Oh course, that was when the doorbell rang. With sticky fingers he ripped his shirt off, using it to desperately try to whip away the smears all over his face. He couldn’t lean over the sink to wash up but jamming himself up against the cupboard let him at least wash his hands and splash his face.

 

The bell rang again.

 

“Be right there!” Cursing the fact that all his shirts were hanging too high for him to reach he settled for pulling a dirty shirt out of the laundry basket. At least it wouldn’t be covered by chocolate. 

 

His pulse thumping in his ears and with a helpless sort of fear growing in his chest, John rolled over to open the door.

 

It was Eddie.

 

For a second, John didn’t know what to do or how to feel. Then that old anger and hurt welled back up. “What the hell are you doing here?”

 

“I- just wanted to see you, to see that you were ok.” Eddie said hesitantly. 

 

John felt as if his body was vibrating. There was a fire burning in him, he was so hungry. He watched that neck, that thick neck that he had loved to bite. And he wanted to bite it. Wanted to bite it hard. To take out a chunk. Swallow him down.

 

Eddie was leaning against the doorway, casual with that submissive drop of his chin. Like he was nothing but a nice guy that you couldn’t possibly be upset with.

 

John wanted to tell him to fuck off, wanted shut the door in his face, wanted to let him in so that he could still his hunger. 

 

Without saying another word, Eddie stepped inside, letting the door slip closed behind him. They stood in silence for a moment, ten years and all the betrayals like a storm between them. 

 

He looked good, John had to admit. The bastard seemed to get more handsome with age. Gone was that pouty lipped twink with the soft cheeks and in his place stood a beautiful, if scruffy man.

 

Eddie had a way about him like he was always comfortable in his body in a way that John never was.  John was always more worried about appearance, about looking too gay or too straight. Of not looking professional, of not being taken seriously. 

 

Eddie just rolled out of bed, took his clothes off the floor, got dressed and didn’t even spare a glimpse of himself in the mirror. And still the motherfucker looks sexy as hell, especially in a leather jacket. Especially in  _ that _ black motorcycle jacket he was wearing right now, the one with the little silver button right against his throat like a tease. It had to be some kind of punishment, that his asshole of a ex-husband could just show up at his door, with those damned puppy eyes, the soft lips and just make John want to bend him over, wheelchair be damned. It was just unfair that Eddie was that sexy.

 

**“What is sexy?”** The voice in his head questioned, but John was ignoring his crazy right now and put all his effort into staring down his ex. 

 

“I’m fine.” John grunted, his hands gripping the wheels of his chair in a obvious lie. Of course he wasn’t ok. He had crash landed a space shuttle that killed the rest of his crew, he was in a wheelchair with both his legs in casts and that was just without going in to the whole losing his mind thing that thankfully wasn’t as obvious as the rest.

 

Eddie obviously didn’t believe him, another downside of having a ex husband.

 

“Maybe I could help with-” Eddie, rocked his torso awkwardly, like a child expecting to be yelled at. “I could go grocery shopping?” 

 

Just what he needed. Eddie, mr I-don’t-need-a-list-to-go-to-the-store, shopping for him. The guy would probably come back with nothing but junk food.

 

“I’m not in the mood for tater tots.” He bit off, feeling his blood start boiling. He was so angry at this man, this man that he had loved so much only to have it thrown in his face. This fucking asshole who now dared to come here when he needed someone the most and offer things that he would not have when they were still married.

 

**“What is tater tots?”** The imaginary voice asked, making John want to scream that it was a pathetic substitute for food that only idiots and children ate. 

 

Eddie squirmed even more, hooking his thumbs into the loops of his jeans, giving John just a glimpse of that smooth skin that he still craved, no matter how much he hated himself for it. “You could write a list?” Eddie suggested, meekly like a good boy who just wanted to please.

 

If John had anything at hand he would have thrown it, he was so angry.

 

“Just fuck off Eddie.”

 

Eddie didn’t fuck off, he just looked at him with those sad eyes. 

 

“What makes you think I want you here?! I want nothing to do with you! You betrayed me, you got me fired! you cheated on me!”

 

“It wasn’t like that, I didn’t want-” Eddie started to protest but John was not in the mood to listen to his excuses.

 

“It doesn’t matter that you did it for a story, you still had someone elses dick up your ass!”

 

**“What is cheating?”** The voice asked, sounding intrigued. Like John had a god damned middle aged mother in his head who had showed up halfway through a soap opera episode and wanted to know all the juicy bits.

 

“You wanna know how I am?! I got two broken legs! My whole crew is dead because I didn’t do my job properly! I have some kind of fucked up post traumatic stress and here you are! Like a bad penny that keeps coming back! Why can’t you leave me alone?! Does it look like I need your sorry excuse of sympathy?!”

 

Eddie just kept on looking at him with those big sad eyes.

 

“You are a fucking loser Eddie and I don’t want your help!” His voice echoed in his own head like a lightning strike. The silence that followed felt almost painful.

 

“You want a hug?” Eddie offered.

 

John found himself stuck between wanting to scream in rage and cry. It was not fair that Eddie could still do this to him. That he could just show up and make John want things he shouldn’t let himself have. 

 

He wanted to be folded up in those strong arms, smell that combination of leather, cheap shampoo and Eddie. His Eddie who was so sweet, so loving and took his cock so well. 

 

And clearly he had taken too long to scrape up enough dignity to say no because here came Eddie, bending his knees to get to the right height and pulling him in.

 

John wanted to protest, to bite the mother fucker in the neck for touching him. But he was tired and scared. He wanted for just a moment have someone else carry all his problems. He took a shaky breath, relaxing almost against his will. Fuck this fucker for making him miss him so much. Ten years together and five years apart. He couldn’t get away from that no matter how much he tried.

 

Eddie got down on his knees and shuffled closer so that he could push his face into Johns shoulder, the way he used to do when they first started dating.

 

John released a shaky breath. It felt so good to be touched. Almost against his will, his arms came up to enfold the man, hands gripping the cool leather jacket in a punishing grip. He was so hungry and so sad, he wanted to let Eddie take care of him so that he could finally cry. 

 

Just as he felt his eyes start welling up, there was a strange kind of tingling down his arms, like the skin on the back of his hands started… lifting? It felt beyond strange. He started to pull his arms back, but Eddie pulled him back in, probably thinking John was being too macho again. Like that had been the real problem in their relationship. 

 

That was his last clear thought as he suddenly saw movement over his ex husbands shoulder. Something oily and black, rising up over his shoulder, huge white eyes and bared teeth grinning down at them like something straight out of a nightmare.

 

John opened his mouth to scream, but it was too late, this thing was already closing in on Eddie, wrapping a dark vine around his throat. 

 

“What the-” Was all Eddie had time to say before the alien started to sink in under his clothes. “What is that?! Get it off me! Get-” He pulled at the collar, then pushed his jacket and shirt off, looking down and over his shoulder. “Where the fuck did it go?”

 

John felt pressure popping in his ears as something was suddenly no longer in his body.  


	6. Eddie Makes a Friend

Venom had make a very impulsive decision, that much it was aware of but as it settled in to it’s new host, it couldn’t regret it.

 

John was being very rude and hadn’t made any progress in accepting their joining. Venom had enough of that kind of treatment back on it’s own planet and was not interested in taking it from it’s own host. Also it was curious to what was considered a loser here among these creatures, compared to back on Klyntar. 

 

This new host, Eddie was interesting. It was just as warm as John but there was so much more chemicals rushing around. Feelings, that’s what it was. Venom soaked it all in, roaming around the new body that luckily did not seem to be dying.

 

This new host appeared to be thinking about mating too. Or at least it used to, going by the chemicals that were still lingering. Apparently the man might be a loser, but he was still desirable for mating and having offspring. It was strange. They were aggressive to each other but still wanted to exchange genetic material. 

 

It could tell why John had considered it to be worthy of mating. From what it knew about birth givers, Eddie would be a perfect carrier.

 

Venom really liked this new host, loser or not.

  
  


-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

  
  


“What the hell was that?!” Eddie was screaming, rubbing his skin where the alien had entered.

 

“It’s classified.” John said automatically.

 

“It’s not classified, it’s in my neck! Also you don’t work for the government, so  _ classified _ is not something you can throw around!”

 

John who was pretty sure he was in shock didn’t contradict him. “It’s- we need to go to the lab, they will know what to do.”

 

“Oh hell no, I’m not going anywhere near that psychopath boss of yours. You have any idea what kind of things that man is up to? Because I don’t. And considering how much I’ve been searching that should tell you a lot.”

 

There was a moment of complete silence before John’s brain kicked in. 

 

“That is why you are here, weren’t you?! You weren’t concerned about me, you just thought I would drop some dirt on my boss so you could write another story!.”

 

“No! I just- Can we focus on the part where one of your boss’ mutants just crawled INTO. MY. THROAT!”Eddie shouted, something he did so rarely that it made John jump.

 

“It’s not a mutant, It’s an alien.” He said, realizing as he said it, how stupid it was.

 

“Oh that’s just so much better, thanks John for your comforting words, you always had a knack of knowing the right thing to say to make me feel better.”

 

“Oh not this again.” John rubbed his hands over his face. 

 

“There is nothing wrong with wanting some fucking affection, you ass!” 

 

Oh he just had to go there. John was so sick of having to listen to Eddie complaining about it, no matter how long it had been since the last time. “Well I didn’t sign up to having a goddamned koala stuck to my back all day long. I couldn’t take a step without your hands on me.” John trew back. “How’s Carol, I bet she just loved that we broke up and got a chance to enjoy your martyr trip.”

 

“Don’t you dare blame me being bi for our break up, don’t you fucking dare!”

 

“No, your sexual orientation has very little to do with how much of a slut you are. So how long did it take before you fucked her? A day? Two?”

 

“Alien! Can we focus on the mother fucking alien that is poking me in the stomach! Oh god, something is poking me in the stomach from the inside. It’s inside of me, get it out! How the fuck do I get it out!?”

 

“We need to go to the lab!” John repeated in annoyance.

 

“We are not going to the fucking lab!”

 

“How else are we going to get a alien out?!”

 

“We are not going to any labs!” Eddie screamed like his throat was going raw.

 

“Talk to it.”

 

“ _ What _ ?”

 

“When I was in the hospital I heard a voice in my head. I thought I was just imagining it, but maybe it was the alien.”

 

“So what, I have a english speaking alien in my head?”

 

“Yes, just don’t be a pushy journalist, Eddie. Be polite.”

 

“I can be polite.”

 

John says nothing. Clearly letting the silence say what he really wanted to follow that statement up with.

 

Eddie took a couple of deep breaths. “Uhm… Hello mister Alien. I come in peace.”

 

John held his breath, waiting in apprehension for something to happen.

 

Eddie shivered violently, his shoulders going up to his ears like he was trying to crawl out of his own skin. “Oh God, it’s talking to me, what do I do, what do I do?”

 

John gave him a look like he was calling him every kind of idiot. “Tell it to come out.”

 

“Could you... please come out of me?” Eddie asked with a shaky voice. “Right, being warm is nice, sure.” Eddie turned back to him, the accusation in his eyes unmistakable. “John, where the hell did it come from?”

 

“It must have come with me on LF1.” John said in rising horror.  That had been one of the specimen, he must have been walking around with it all along.

“Hi Venom, I’m Eddie, nice to meet you… yeah… well, tater tots are like potatoes that you heat up in the oven, they are delicious… no John preferes food that’s not pre-made… yeah, I like cake. Sure. We can get as much cake as you want if you just come out. Please?”

Excitement rose through John. This was revolutionary!  Not only were they in contact with an alien, the alien could communicate. It was intelligent. The voice had been real, it had been communicating with  _ him _ .

He couldn't decide if this was the coolest thing he had ever experienced or stupidly terrifying. Looking at it now he can’t believe that he hadn’t figured it out. It’s so obvious! But to his defense, he was a bit too worried about being crazy to consider that maybe there was an alien inside of him, complaining about being hungry.

Meanwhile, Eddie was pacing back and forth across the hallway, four step, turn, four steps turn. “I don’t know. I think it’s just a human thing… yeah, we are humans. What are you? Klyn-tar?... So you just go around randomly sinking in to people? Ok? That’s… nice? Hey, you are not damaging anything in there are you?”

“We need to get you to the lab.” John pointed out again like it wasn’t really fucking obvious. What the hell was he going to tell his boss? Sorry, I accidentally brought one of the aliens home with me? Sorry for endangering potentially the whole world?

“Oh hell no.” Eddie, glared at him.

“They can help, they have more of the species that they are studying.” John couldn't believe he actually had to talk him into it.

“You can’t tell your boss!” Eddie spat.

“They will know how to get rid of it.” John said, even if he was lying just a little bit. Considering there was only one of the aliens left since the rest had died for one reason or another they most likely didn't know a lot about how they worked. He probably shouldn't mention that part to Eddie, it would just enlight his paranoia even more. He was already on a roll as it was.

Eddie glared. “No. I’ve met the guy, I was forced to do a interview with him for the Brock report last week. The guy is so fake he might as well be a walking, talking barbie doll. I couldn't ask him anything that wasn't on their own pre-approved list. I tried to question them about the crash and why they had been paying large amounts of money to the hospital that handled the first response. They didn't even pretend to answer, instead they kicked me out and I almost lost my job.” Eddie took a deep breath, rubbing his neck where the alien had gone in. “Look, your boss is up to some seriously shady shit. If you go running to Drake, telling him that you got infected by some kind of parasite-” Eddie cut himself of, shaking his head as if to get water out of his ear. “Well what else would you call it? I call it like I see it. You are in me and I didn’t give you permission, that makes you a unwanted guest, as in, a parasite.”

John, raised a hand as the start of a hug that was just automatic when it came to Eddie looking upset.  “Eddie?”

“Seriously.” Eddie grunted, slapping his hands against his temples in a rapid tempo. “This is freaky, having this bass voice echoing in my head is so weird.” Eddie shock his head one last time. “Anyway, as I was trying to say-  _ Venom please be quiet _ -” Eddie took a shaky breath. “ _ as I was saying _ , if you tell your boss that you and I have been in contact with this thing, what do you think he’s going to do to us?”

John opened his mouth to defend Mr Drake but found that he couldn’t. He could remember the look on the man's face when they stood in front of that glass, looking in at the species tumbling around in its container. There was no way to say that they wouldn’t find themselves in a tube of their own. And if the company really had done human experiments, then they were definitely fucked.

“Fine, we'll try to figure this out on our own first.” John agreed. “Try talking to him and ask what it wants and tell him what you want.”

Eddie nodded, rubbing his neck again as if to comfort himself. “Ok, let's do this.”

John had to stop himself from giving him a thumbs up like a complete nerd. Then he figured that this situation was crazy enough to be in need of it, so he gave Eddie two of them in support.

With a nod, Eddie made contact again. “So, any chance to get you out of me?” Eddie asked in what he probably thought was his kind voice that ended up sounding mostly condescending. “I’m asking really nice and friendly.”

Eddie was still and quiet for a long moment, staring at John's Mars Attack poster like it was a complicated puzzle.

“Um, so apparently we got some kind of war of the worlds scenario going on and the air is harmful to it. Also, it’s…” Eddie seemed to find whatever he was told upsetting. “ So, apparently, it’s lonely and doesn’t want to come out.”

Both of them startled as black tentacles shot out of Eddie's chest as if in outrage.

“Ok! Not lonely! I’m using a more powerful word, how about solitary? Better?”

The tentacles calmed down and sank back into Eddie's chest. For a long moment, Both of them just stared at seemingly untouched front of Eddie's t-shirt.

“So, Venom doesn’t want to leave because he likes it in there. Also, Venom is a really weird name… so is is a bad translation from your language… No? It’s just… venom? Why is that? Are you poisonous or…? No? Then why… Ok, you don’t want to talk about it? Right... each to his own.”

John watched his ex-husband closely. “You are doing great Eddie.”

Eddie inhaled slowly, exhaling shakily. “Am I? Am I really? I’m pretty sure I’m freaking out and I’m really scared. There is something inside of me and it keeps talking about wanting to eat everything and everyone and I don’t know what to do.”

With that Eddie started shaking in a way that John recognized very well. Because while Eddie might come off as a devil may care, happy go lucky guy, he had always been in tune with his emotions in a way that John had never been. Eddie wasn’t ashamed of his feelings, whether it was happy, nervous, scared or in need of a good cry.

John opened his arms and dragged his asshole ex husband into his arms to comfort him until the man was sitting sideways in his lap, knees hanging awkwardly over the wheel.

And seriously, fuck the guy for being able to steer up this kind of protectiveness from him without any effort at all, Also, why did he have to feel so good in his arms. He had never had a partner who fitted so well against him, who’s head felt just perfect against his neck. He stroked a hand down his back, feeling how Eddie instantly started to relax.

Eddie could look so rough and tough, but show him just a little affection and he would roll over and expose that soft center.

He could be so sweet and giving, so devoted to only you...

That’s why it had hit so hard when the lying had been exposed. You got used to the softer side of Eddie and forgot that this cute puppy of a man wasn’t housetrained.

And now he had somehow infected Eddie with a alien he had brought with him from space. This was going to be a shit show.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

  
  


Several hours later, Eddie left John’s apartment with a promise that he wasn’t going to do anything to expose or bring attention to himself or his hitchhiker.

 

Going back to work first thing tomorrow morning with an alien inside him was totally going to be living up to that promise. It was risky and more then a little stupid but like hell he was going to let the Life Foundation live this down. From what Venom told him, they had been brought here deliberately and Eddie wanted to know why.

 

If it had just been for the fame and glory, it would have been all over the news by now that Drake had found aliens. Instead there had been nothing, just a bunch of condolences to the family of the lost and pretty words about times of need bringing people together. Bullshit.

 

Drake was up to no good and Eddie was going to be the one to cut him off by his knees. It was going to be glorious.

 

On their walk through Nob Hill towards his apartment in Tenderloin, Eddie had tried to get to know the alien living inside of him. It was a lot less scary now that Eddie knew that if it had been inside of John for so long without hurting him, it probably wouldn’t tear him apart from the inside like the Alien movies.

 

It was a long walk but after this crazy day, he felt that he needed to stretch his legs and take the opportunity to think.

 

This was not what he expected to happen when he decided to drop in unannounced at his ex-husbands apartment. Getting his nose broken had been one option and a pity fuck had been another.  He had hoped more for the latter but had believed the former to be a lot more likely. But from the moment he had heard that John had survived the crash he knew that he was going to risk his nose to try to see him.

 

**“What is that?”** Venom asked for what felt like the tenth time since they had left John’s apartment. The first time Eddie had gotten the question had unfortunately been to try to explain the smiling man wearing a sock. Only a sock. And it wasn’t on his foot. Welcome to the Tenderloin.

 

“What is what?” Eddie asked, not looking around. Because only tourist waiting to get robbed looked around in a place like this.

 

**“The shiny thing in there.”**

 

Eddie glanced into the alley. “Sorry Venom, I can’t see what you are talking about.”

 

It had long since gotten dark and Eddie couldn’t see anything beyond the streetlights, but then there was a tickling behind his eyeballs and suddenly he could see everything where there earlier had only been shadows.

 

Eddie stumbled, looking around in amazement. “Whooow did you do that?”

 

**“Yes, hu-man eyes are pathetic.”**

 

“Sure are, thanks dude, that is so much better.” Eddie could see like it was full daylight and as he looked into the alley he could immediately say what it was that Venom had been asking about. Unfortunately it was now a completely different problem because that was definitely a cokehead with a knife.

 

“Give me your money.” The wide eyed man demanded, his raised knife sweeping through the air.

 

Eddie went for a harmless approach, smiling brightly and hunching his shoulders. “Hey man, do I look like a guy with any money? Seriously?”

 

His wannabe robber apparently agreed with him. “Give me your phone.”

 

“I’m not sure you want it, it’s a first generation with a cracked screen.” Eddie kept smiling but made no move to get his phone out.

 

Unblinking eye looking from side to side. “Fuck you, give me- just give me!” Without warning, that was when he stabbed the knife right into Eddies stomach.

 

A lot of things happened in the following seconds that felt so much slower then they should have. Eddie had plenty of time to think about his regrets and all the things he still wanted to accomplish. He thought about John, how he had never taken the chance to really talk to him again, to tell him he was sorry. He wondered what his mother was going to say when she heard he had been found stabbed in a alley. He also wondered what was going to happen to Venom, his weird parasite that he was already developing some kind of Stockholm syndrome over.

 

Then he had realized that nothing hurt. Also there was no blood.

 

He looked from the blade that obviously had pierced his t-shirt, up to the confused looking man who was trying to pull it back out with no success. They both looked down at the knife as black sludge poured out along the blade.

 

The robber tried to let go of the knife but the sludge took his hand in a tight grip. The sound of bones breaking was suddenly all that could be heard in the cool evening air. Eddie watched as the man opened his mouth to scream but before he could draw a breath the world had gone black. Eddie felt completely surrounded and safe. For a moment everything was peaceful and quiet, then it felt like… like he was suddenly connected to something more. Something that he could not describe. He was no longer just Eddie, he was- they were Venom and Venom had no fear of robbers. They looked down at the inferior human in front of them.

 

**“It challenges us!”** They said in agreement and with joy they opened their mouth and ate it.

 

When Venom was once again back inside his body and they continued their walk home, Eddie tried to feel bad about eating another human being. He didn’t succeed.

 

“Hey, Venom. We are not telling John about this.” Eddie decided, pushing his hands deep into his pockets. 

 

**“Yes, Eddie."** Venom replied happily.


	7. Biology is up for discussion

**“Eddie.”**  
The words rumbled through Eddie, waking him up from his much needed rest. 

 

“What?” Eddie grunted unhappily, rolling over and pulling his pillow over his head like it would shut out the voice.

 

**“Hungry, Eddie. Feed us.”**

 

“There is a reason I never got a dog.” Eddie informed Venom by mumbling it inte his beddings. “They always want to wake you up really early and they are always hungry. Now can you see any resemblance between yourself and the dog in question.”

 

**“What is a dog?”**

 

“It’s…” Eddie sighed. “You know what, never mind. What do you want to eat for breakfast?”

 

**“Chocolate cake!”**

 

“Sorry, no cake in the apartment.” Eddie grunted sleepily. 

 

Venom made a unhappy noise and pushed out against the skin of Eddie’s stomach. It felt strange so he rolled over on his back. “Also I’m really weak for the whining and the puppy eyes begging. I shouldn’t ever get a dog.”

 

**“Cake?”**

 

Eddie sighed. “Sure, let’s go find some chocolate cake before you find more muggers.”

 

They ended up in Mrs Chen’s corner store because Eddie was all for supporting local businesses, also it was close and he was lazy.

 

She might not have the biggest collection but she had what they needed in the form of chocolate muffins. It wasn’t technically cake but it wasn’t like the alien inside of him would know the difference.

 

The ended up in Father Albers’s park further down the street, sitting on a bench as they watched some kids playing around in the park while they ate their breakfast. At first Eddie had tried his best to hide Venom so that no one would see the sharp teeth and the glaring eyes. That had only made the moms wary of him. He could understand why. A unshaved white man, sitting in a park where there was kids and hiding something in his lap. He was just happy that they hadn’t called the cops.

 

Then he just figured that people would think whatever. It wasn’t like anyone was actually expecting there to be an alien around, even less one that was pooling in his laps, eating muffins. Also, it was Tenderloin, they probably just though he was on drugs and would leave him alone.

 

Eddie found that walking around with an alien wasn’t that bad. It was nice to have company. Eddie was a sociable guy after all and he didn’t like being on his own.

 

It used to drive John crazy when he had been at work only to come home to Eddie who had been alone in front of his computer all day and desperate for company. He'd been like a over excited lapdog as he met John by the door, practically jumping on him before he could even get his shoes off. He could see now how that would get tiring, but back then he had only felt the rejection as John would pull away and made excuses not spend time with him or even come home. 

 

It had only made him more desperate for company and so their relationship started to slip and slide all the way to hell.

 

It had only gotten worse when Eddie had gotten his own column that he wrote entirely from home and John had started the final phase training and only came home on the weekends.

 

John liked to place all the blame on their divorce on Eddie and his slip, but it had been coming for much longer than that.

 

The isolation and the resentment on both sides really had been too much for them. How Eddie chose to get information had only been the final nail in a coffin that had already been lowered into its grave. 

 

That was probably what made him so quick to accept Venom’s presence. The little guy knew loneliness just as well as he did and it was hard to feel lonely when there was a voice with an almost childlike curiosity talking to him all the time. Hell, if Venom could give hugs he would already be one of the top relationships in his life.

 

And wasn’t that a scary thought to have about an alien that you had living inside of you for less than twenty four hours. 

 

Eddie hadn’t had a lot of relationships since his break from John. He had tried, by god, he had tried. 

 

His last try had been this really nice lawyer named Anne. They had really hit it off and Eddie had just started to feel like maybe he could do this, maybe he wasn’t a lost cause. And then reality had started to kick in.

 

Anne had wanted a commitment. She wanted for them to move in together and start a life together and make decisions  _ together _ . Meanwhile Eddie had barely just learned how to function as a single individual. The relationship had kind of fizzled out after that. They had met a couple of times for lunch when he was in the areas of her firm and she and her new fiance Dan had him over for dinner a few weeks ago. He was happy for her, Dan was a nice guy and they made a real nice couple. It was just exhausting to be around happy couples when you were single and really didn’t want to be.

 

Things had been a little better since he had started the Brock report. It had taken him out of the apartment together with a film team of people he liked. It hadn’t been like having a partner but at least he hadn’t been as lonely as before.

 

“Ok, time to go to work.” He said, brushing the last crumbs over Venom’s head that was poking out from under the edge of his sweatshirt.

 

**“More cake?”** Venom asked, slipping back in as Eddie stood up.

 

“I got a couple of snickers bars in my desk. You can have them as soon as I’ve talked to my boss.”

 

Leaving the park, Eddie met the eye of one of the moms with their strollers who were giving him weird looks. Right, the talking to himself might become a problem because she looked like she was ready to use the parasol on the stroller to kick his ass if he came any closer.

 

There was an electronic store on Ellis St where he dropped in to buy himself a bluetooth headset so that he could at least pretend that he was on the phone instead of talking to the voice in his head.

 

That and some extra chocolate bars from the shop next door, just to be safe.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Venom was very excited to look around as they made their way towards the cave where Eddie’s boss was. This huge collection of caves that Eddie called San Francisco was endlessly fascinated. There was so many things to see and smell. So many humans and vessels moving around. It was almost disappointed when they arrived at the cave and Venom could no longer see all the creatures moving around.

“Need a quick detour first.” Eddie mumbled, pushing their way into a white bare cave that reminded Venom of the caves that John had been taken to when the humans had been trying to restore it. Getting worried, Venom  searched through Eddies body, noticing that there was some straining happening and it seemed like there was some kind of blockage.

 

**“What’s wrong? Are you damaged?”** Venom was worried now and gave the blockage a push. 

 

“Jesus! Don’t do that, I’ll shit my pants you-” Eddie cut off as it’s eyes met another human who stood facing the wall, holding it’s floppy bit that luckily seemed to stop leaking as the two looked at each other.

 

“Uhhh, scat and urinals turn me on?” Eddie said hesitantly, opening up the covering of his lower limbs.

 

Venom didn’t understand the words but whatever it meant it made the other human leave in a hurry, closely followed by another human who had been hiding behind some kind of flat covering that seemed to make up their own little caves.

 

Eddie quickly dove into one of the useless little caves, closing it behind them as the lower cover fell to the ground. Sitting down on a white chair, Eddie relaxed with a sigh. 

 

That’s when the floppy bit started leaking. 

 

Reacting on pure instinct, Venom leaped down and put itself in the way, stopping the fluids from escaping the body. 

 

“What the fuck! Venom!” Eddie shouted

 

**“I stopped it!”**

 

“I know! Stop stopping it! I got to piss.” 

 

**“You are losing fluids.”** Venom protested.

 

“That’s the point!” Eddie was clearly unhappy about it’s quick save. “Let go, now.”

 

Reluctantly, Venom let the fluids pass through the floppy bit. 

 

Eddie breathed out a sigh in relief.

 

That’s when the blockage released and it started falling out. Venom hurried over to try to hold it back.

 

“Don’t you dare!” Eddie hissed. “You let me take a shit in peace or I’m never letting you have chocolate again.”

 

In distress, Venom held back at that horrible threat, leaving them empty as Eddie ‘took a shit’ and then got back into it's covering. Venom didn’t understand what was going on and wanted Eddie to explain. They had just lost valuable substance when Venom could have stopped it.

 

Eddie left the little cave and put it's limbs in water before splashed it up over it’s head. “I can’t believe I have to explain this.”

 

Venom rose up so that it could peek out over Eddies shoulder.

 

“Human’s eat food, the food is processed as it travels through the body and then what is left, we shit out. The same thing with what we drink, what we don’t need we just piss out and everybody is happy.” 

 

“Wasteful.” Venom accused. “Humans are strange.”

 

Eddie paused from where he was drying his hands. “Fuck, how are you doing it? I just had this horrible image of you swimming around in there with a string of poop trailing behind you like a fish.”

 

“Klyntars don’t waste.” Venom hissed at the insult.

 

“So you just… process everything?”

 

“Yes… why not?”

 

“As long as you are not taking a dump inside of me, everything is fine.” Eddie said and gave Venom’s head a push until it sank back down under the surface. With that they left the bare cave.

 

Venom found the whole thing awful and reckless. What if they ran out of chocolate? Then where would they get strength? What would they do then if Eddie kept wasting valuable energy? Venom decided that from now on, there would be no more wasting of left over food. It cared less about the fluids, fluids were useless. There was not much of value in it and while the thing called coffee gave interesting reactions in the brain, Venom found the whole thing unnecessary.  It didn’t actually understand why a creature who were made up mostly by fluids needed so much of it when it all just went out the other way. Humans were strange.

 

Venom thought a lot about human’s inner function as Eddie went into one of those silver caves that moved and went up the high thing.

 

From there they went into a large open cave with a lot of smaller caves in in where humans sat around and talked into small things. Some of the human’s greeted Eddie as they walked passed but most were too busy poking all their little limbs on tinny eyes that made clicking noises.

 

Eddie hit the opening of one of the caves with the back of it’s limb, making a thumping noise before stepping inside.

 

“Hey Boss, got a moment?”

 

“Of course, what you got for me?”

 

Venom didn’t pay much attention to what the human’s were doing, it was more interested in what it could see being the sitting human. They were very high up and they could see so far. Venom had never climbed anything this high before and it wanted a closer look. It tried to nudge Eddie closer so that it could see better but for some reason, Eddie refused to go.

 

**“Wanna see.”** Venom complained.  **“Go closer. Closer to the edge.”**

 

“And this tip you got about Life foundation bringing back infections, it wouldn’t happen to have come from your former husband who was the only survivor of the expedition?” The boss human asked.

 

“You know, got to protect my sources and all.” Eddie said, wobbling a bit when Venom tried to make them move forward.

 

The boss human leaned back and put their tiny limbs against each other. “I like it, but we got to be careful. Drake is a dangerous man to cross so we are going to need rock solid evidence and named sources. I’m serious about this Eddie, if we are making a story about this, it needs to be sure. No rushing and no shortcuts. We agreeing on this?”

 

“Absolutely.” Eddie was fighting back but Venom managed to get them a couple of steps closer. They were so far up! Venom wanted to get even closer so they could look down at all the losers down there. 

 

“We run the last episode of the Brock report of the season according to plans and then we put in the hours to dig deep on the Life Foundation.”

 

“Good, I really think w-” Eddie cut off as Venom managed to make them take another couple of steps passed the boss human. So high! Venom happily looked down. Tiny unless things down there, they were the highest! 

 

“Eddie? Are you alright?” The other human asked behind them.

 

“Ye- yeah, I just thought I saw something.” Eddie forced out, the tip of it's back limbs bumping in to the same material from the bottle that was there but you couldn't see it. Was the cave a big bottle?

 

“You getting better with the highest then?”

 

Eddie swayed, making Venom take it’s attention off the ground. **“Eddie? What’s wrong?”**

 

“Working on it.” Eddie said before wrestling control over his back limbs and hurried further in. “I’ll get back to you later this week.”

 

The boss human said something in return but neither of them were listening. Eddie hurried out through the cave and didn’t stop until they were back in the moving silver cave.

 

Eddie was breathing fast, the thing in the middle pumping hard and fluids leaking out of the skin.  **“Eddie? What’s wrong? How do we repair it?** ”

 

Eddie took a couple of deep breaths, pushing one of the glowing eyes on the wall  over and over. “You are never, ever doing that to me again. You hear me? If you want to go up high places and stare death in the eye, you do not take me with you. I don’t like being high up and if you force me I’m going to be very angry with you.”

 

Venom hunkered down, sliding in around the pumping muscle to try to calm it down.  **“Eddie.”** It rumbled, unsure how to make it better. It had never been in a situation like this before and it did not know what to do. Klyntars only destroyed, they never made things better

 

The silver cave made a noise and opened up back on the ground. “Now say you’re sorry and promise not to make me go anywhere high against my will.”

 

**“You’re sorry and promise not to make me go anywhere high against my will.”** Venom echoed.

 

Eddie snorted out a laugh as they pushed their way out of the cave and into the light outside. “Not quite what I meant. If you act like a dick and do something that hurts someone and you regret it, then you say the word sorry to show that you meant no harm and you won’t do it again.”

 

**“Sorry, Eddie. Venom will not be a dick and make you go to high places.”**

 

“Thank you. If you want to go somewhere high you are going to have to ask John to take you. He likes that kind of thing.”

 

**“Yes, Eddie.”**

 

“Ok, let’s go see what we can find for lunch. Cake for breakfast is not very filling.”

 

**“Chocolate?”** Venom asked hopefully. 

 

Eddie patted itself over where Venom rested. “I’m sure we can find something.”

 

Venom purred happily. 


	8. The Story Behind The Name

 

 

On Klyntar, the biggest occasion in an individual's lifespan was the name giving tournament. There, all the unnamed were given the chance to prove themselves and their capability in battle. It was crucial to do well or you would be haunted by your own name until the day you were killed. Badly named Klyntars did not live long.

 

The young one had yearned and dreaded this moment as soon as it had learned the purpose and how it was done. To earn a name and a place in the collective, you had to fight, win and devour. You were given a host and with it, you were to fight until the death of the host. Either yours or your opponent's.

 

If not, death would be the kind option.

 

The tournament took place in the biggest crater around, the one that was said to have created the Klyntar race in the Beginning. The entire collective crowding around the edges, forming a surrounding wall together as they share one mind with one goal, to see who was strong and who was not. They would all earn a name fitting to what they are and what part in the collective they would play.

 

Eradicate, their strongest and oldest rulemaker rises up, towering over the cluster of erratically moving un-named that has gathered on the outside, waiting for their turn.

 

**“It is time to fight.”** It starts, earning a roar of approval from the barricade of its kind.

 

The lonely young goo watches from the sideline as one by one, the un-named enters the circle and start their naming battle.  

 

As by tradition, the collective dropped one of the captured hosts in with a un-named and when the joining is complete, another enters and starts their own joining. But the second joining does not go as easily, the host tries to escape and run. It does not get far and it screams in fear as the un-named enters its body. There is a moment of silence as the two join together, the body twitching erratically, barley processed nutriment is ejected out of both ends of the host before it started rising smoothly as the unnamed takes over. 

 

Then there was only the fight left.  

 

The battle that follows is like nothing the lonely one has ever seen. It’s used to Klyntars fighting, bodies morphing, extending and adapting. The hosts does not such thing. The bodies are flayed open, fluids, fur and flesh is spread around the crater. The Klyntars fighters could spread all over the host to protect it but they choose not to. It is a image that will forever stay with it in it’s loneliness. That it is not as the others, that it does not enjoy watching the hosts get ripped apart.

 

The lonely one watched anxiously as the flesh of the host and the slime of the Klyntar flow freely as the unnamed did their best to rip each other apart in the most violent way possible. The wall of the community roared in approval as the dark blue unnamed ripped the other from its host and started to devour it alive. The green one cried out in its final moment of life. Then there was only one and the silence was complete. The elders turned to Eradicate, waiting in anticipation.

 

**“After a mighty battle we welcome the warrior to the Klyntar hoard. From the victory comes the name and we will call it Gorge!”** The newly named Gorge stretched proudly and ballowed out it’s dominance . The collective roared with it in triumph. The lonely one did not even try to follow, too busy watching what was left of the two hosts. Two bodies that used to contain life, but now only served as a wet smear across the bottom of the crater.

 

And then the next battle set out to begin.

 

The lonely one was nervous, swaying restlessly from side to side as it tried to calm down. One on the larger un-named hissed at it, letting a large tendril whip it harshly along it’s side. Cowering down it tried to stay out of the way. It did not want to end up in any fights, at least before it had to.

 

Then it’s time, the lonely one is next in line and as it crawls into the center it was filled with longing and determination.

 

This first challenge, to catch and overpower the host is one that it has looked forward to for as long as it has lived. It has done everything it can to prepare for this moment, it has watched the elders and learned as much as it could on it’s own. All for a chance to become a We and to be able to keep its host alive so that it could stay with it. That is the biggest of it’s fears, that it will lose it’s host in battle.

 

From the middle of the circle, it watches as its future host is released in front of it. The creature is big, at least compared to its own young mass. It stands on four muscular legs, it’s body tight of tension and anger as it’s eyes flicker around the crater. It is covered by soft looking fur but there is nothing soft about the long claws and the bared teeth. 

 

The young one slowly approaches, unsure how to make contact. It had seen the other unnamed throw themselves at the host, forcing themselves into the creatures.

 

But the lonely one hesitates, it does not want to anger or force itself in. Slowly it slitter closer, figuring that if it could just connect with it, they could communicate and get along. But before it can even reach out, the host attacks, lashing out before it is even given the chance to make a connection. It ducks out of the way, bending low to get out of the way of sharp looking claws swiping out towards it. It does not want to hurt it's host but before it has figured out what to do the creature lashed out, it’s teeth ripping deep. The young one tried to get away but for some reason it couldn't, it’s mass was suddenly thick and unresponsive. It could only watch as dripping teeth bit into it again, infected it with the host's venom, leaving only agony behind. The young one had felt nothing like it and it screamed and screamed to its audience great amusement. The corrosive venom was stark white against it’s black form as it ate away at it.

 

As it writhed in never ending pain, the collective quickly grew bored. There was no violence and the host was digging itself down into a hole to get away. The naming was to go on and the lonely one was pushed aside to make room, then thrown over the wall of the collective like unwanted limbs. It hit the ground hard, it's mass hard and unresponsive in a way it had never experienced in its short life. It tried to detach from the infected parts of it but could not. 

 

It was afraid that it would disintegrated completely from the burns that slowly grew over it’s amorphous shape. The pain were unimaginable and it screamed out it's despair. 

 

The tournament went on undisturbed as the collective all turned away from it. It hurt and it grieved that it had not been given the chance to take a host, to become a We. 

 

After what felt like it’s whole life span, the venom finally stopped spreading. Purring softly to comfort itself it carefully poked the rough parts, feeling where its smooth surface met the harsh edge of hardened bulk.

 

It’s form was flaking off like a rock filled with cracks, pieces falling off as it shivered in fear and pain. It could feel itself decreasing from losing it’s own mass. Twisting and rocking it slowly managed to shred the last of the infected parts. It was relieved and devastated. It had lost over half of its shape, withered into dust. But it was alive.

 

As it had gathered it’s strength, it emerged from its hiding to rejoin the tournament, only to find that it was too late. All the hosts had been used and discarded, there were none left for it to show its strength. It stood alone in the crater, it’s loss easy for all to see.

 

This had never happened before in all their collective memory and they were unsure what to make of it. In the end, just as the decision was leaning towards ripping it apart, Eradicate was the one to save it. 

 

It had probably only meant it as a taunt when it named it Venom. It’s amused hissing about showing it’s true nature had greatly amused the collective, finding more joy in the remainder of the disastrous joining then in a execution.

 

And so Venom had been accepted into the collective, not as a warrior but as entertainment. The loser who made everyone feel better about themselves. The joke that just went on and on. They hissed parasite at him anytime there was a feeding that it had not contributed to and loser every time it tried to join in with the rest of them.

 

But Venom refused to give up, it would not leave. There was still a chance that it would escape its loneliness and be accepted by the collective. It would find a way to be accepted.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Eddie woke up, feeling more than a little disoriented. Opening his eyes he expected to see red rocks and endless orange skies, not the light blue of his bedroom walls, 

 

“Was that you?” He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “...Venom?”

 

There was no response besides a twisting in his stomach.

 

“You were so tiny. Wait, how big are you really?” Eddie sat up, looking down at his body.

 

There was still no answer, just a unhappy rumble.

 

“Get out here, I wanna see.” Eddie demanded, poking the lump by his ribs.

 

Venom slowly emerged out of Eddie’s chest. Black tentacles swiveled around like it was trying to find it’s balance from where it was holding onto Eddie’s chest hair.

 

“Please don’t pull that.” He asked, gathering the soft and warm bundle in the palms of his hands. 

 

When John had talked about them, the aliens had sounded so big and terrifying, but Venom was only slightly bigger than a guinea pig.

 

It pooled over the sides of his palms, circling his fingers with slim strands. White eyes looked up and him like some kind of tiny baby animal wanting pets and treats.

 

Eddie grinned down and was rewarded with a awkward but sweet smile that had a long row of pointy teeth peeking out.

 

Eddie held the alien up to his face. “You are mother fucking adorable.”

 

Thin black strings were raised in a outraged wiggle while a mouth as big as orange opened, rows of teeth bared in what probably was meant to be intimidating.

 

But Eddie knew better, Venom was a complete sweetheart. He told it so and was rewarded by that mouth closing in around his thumb with a vicious growl.

 

Pin like sharpness digs into his hand, not hard enough to break the skin but enough to make you rethink teasing the owner of the teeth. “Ow ow ow, ok, you win.” He laughed. “ Not a adorable sweetheart. A scary predator.”

 

Pulling Venom in close to his chest, Eddie dragged a palm down the squishy little body. “Come on, let’s see what kind of breakfast we can find.”

 

**“Cake!”**

 

“Sorry little buddy, I don’t have any cake. We can stop by the store later and get some.”

 

Venom rumbled happily.  **“Venom likes cake.”**

 

“Yeah? What kind of cake”, Eddie opened his refrigerator. It was depressingly empty _.  _ He really was horrible at cooking for just himself. 

 

There was a beat of silence.  **“There are different kinds?”**

 

Eddie snorted in amusement. “Ah, yes. You have been stuck with Johns eating habits, he only eats chocolate. But there are a lot more flavors than that.”

 

**“Like what?”**

 

And that was how Eddie ended up trying to explain how cream and lemons tasted. They did not have the same references since Venom didn’t understand when Eddie used words like sour and fat while Eddie had no idea how a dirt crawler tasted. Never mind what it even was.

 

In the end he gave up and went down to Mrs. Chen’s corner store again to buy every kind of cheesecake she had.

 

“You should watch your diet.” Mrs Chen said as he put their breakfast down in front of her. “Sugar is not good for you. It will give you cancer in your guts.”

 

“Probably.” Eddie agreed.  “But I have a voice in my ear just screaming for sweets so what are you gonna do?”

 

She gave him a unimpressed look as she took his money. “How about getting some self-control before you get fat and have a heart attack.”

 

**“Venom will protect your heart from any attacks.”** Venom rumbled, peeking out of Eddie’s sleeve to peer down into the plastic bag.

 

Eddie takes his change, calls a goodbye over his shoulder before pulling the door open and stepping out into the warm summer air. 

 

They went back to the bench in Father Alfred’s park in the corner of Eddie and Jones street and watched some high schoolers who really should be in class, play basketball.

 

Venom was in his lap again, being fed bites of sticky cheese cake. That was the best thing about living in a big city. You can totally sit in a park and feed your hitchhiking alien as it flopped about in your lap, enjoying the sunshine.

 

An elderly man in a too big coat wandered by, giving Venom a closer look.

 

“Is it some kind of snake?” The man asked curiously, looking like he was aiming to sit down next to them.

 

“Nah.” Eddie said, taking a hold of Venom’s squishy little head and pulling it up. “It’s one of these new toys. It’s like a slinky, only made of goo.” He raised his hand up high, stretching out Venom like a giant rubber band. “It’s going to be the Christmas present of the year.” Venom hissed angrily and swallowed Eddie’s whole fist, making him curse and shake his hand, trying to dislodge the alien. They got a strange look from the elderly man who for some reason changed his mind about sitting down and instead hurried away. 

 

“Let go or I’ll throw away the last piece of the cheesecake.” Eddie threatened, holding his encased fist up so their eyes met.

 

With a rumbling protest, Venom pulled back to curl back up in his lap.  **“Sweeeets.”**

 

Eddie waited until Venom had licked every inch of the plastic casing.

“Well, time to get to work.” He said, dropping the last piece of sticky piece of lemon cheesecake into Venom’s waiting mouth.

 

**“Why?”**

 

“Because the people who brought you and your friends here are up to something and I'm going to find out what it is.”

 

Venom who probably hadn’t listened to any of that busied itself with licking Eddies fingers clean.

 

Eddie got up, picking Venom up like a doll and pushing him into the pocket of his hoodie. 

 

**“No more cake?”** Venom asked, sounding sad and disappointed as Eddie threw away their empty boxes.

 

“All out.” Eddie confirmed, adjusting the bluetooth in his ear.

 

**“Eddie.”** Venom complained and slipped stubby tentacles in under his clothes, squeezing him around the waist in a strange sort of hug.

 

**“Want more of the sweet.”**

 

“Say please.” Eddie muttered as he rounded the fense and sidestepped a dog walker with seven dogs that all tried to stick their nose in under his shirt as he passed them. Maybe they could smell aliens?

 

Venom spared a moment to hiss at them, making the dogs hunker down before going back to squeezing Eddie.  **“Please?”** A hesitant voice boomed in his head while a slim tentacle rose up to pet him under his chin.

 

Eddie decided that he was a weak individual and went into the Mediterranean cafe across the street and bought enough crepes to satisfy a family of four.

 

By the time they had made their way back home they were both pleasantly full. They really had eaten a lot the sticky chocolate and strawberry filled pancakes to the point that Venom didn’t even ask for more by the time they were out.

Eddie went up to his apartment to get his helmet and keys, before taking a ridiculously long walk pick up his bike.  Most might park their cars along the street but Eddie had paid a lot of money for his Ducati Scrambler and refuse to risk it. So his pride and joy, or middle age crisis as his mother called it, sat in the Golden State parking garage where Eddie paid a monthly fee of far too much money for half a car parking spot.

 

**“What’s this?”** Venom asked as Eddie made himself comfortable on the seat and turned the key.

 

“My bike.” He didn’t elaborate, choosing instead to let Venom experience it firsthand. Eddie really loved his bike. He had bought it new back in 2015 because he had seen it in a add and just had to have it. Thinking back his mom might have had a point when she said it was a typical move for heartbroken men at a certain age to buy things that went fast.

 

**“What is a bike?”**

 

“You’ll see.” With that he took the turn onto the exit ramp a little faster then he usually would have just to enjoy to the surprised noise vibrating through his body as Venom got his first taste of 0-60 with 75 horse powers.

 

**“Fast! Make bike thing move faster!”**

 

Eddie laughed inside his helmet. “You got it, dude.” There was only one thing to do. Eddie turned the bike up to highway 101 and hit the gas. Hard.

 

The ride across San Francisco was the most satisfying Eddie could ever remember having. Venom’s enjoyment seemed to enhance his own and the adrenaline and excitement seemed to circle between them. Every turn and every speedy passing of other vehicles made Venom rumble happily. It’s happiness was as exciting as a childs on christmas and Eddie did everything to milk it. He leaned in deeper in the bends and changed lanes far more often than necessary. 

 

**“Venom likes bike.”** He spoke the obvious as they pulled to a stop along Jenning street.

 

“I’m glad.” Eddie said as he kicked out the stand and got of. Further down the street was United Council of Human service, formally, Mother Brown’s homeless shelter, in the corner of Jenning’s street and Van Dyke avenue. Someone had made the effort to paint the whole building in different shades of blue like a sky, with a orange sun centered on the front with two giant white doves drawn on each side. It did give a welcoming impression in this strange neighborhood. Here, shelter, homeowners, shops and factories all shared the same road crossing.

 

It was still early in the day but he figured it was a good place to start. He had gotten a tip from Maria, the woman who had her spot just outside of Mrs Chen, that there had been some talk among the homeless that people had started going missing from this shelter. Eddie didn’t have any solid evidence that it was the Life Foundation that was behind it, besides the fact that one of the homeless who were said to have been picked up had called a friend. They had just enough time to say where he had been picked up and were driving over the golden gate bridge before the call had been cut. It might just be a coincidence that the Life Foundations headquarter was just on the other side of that bridge but Eddie’s instincts said differently.

 

He scanned the block behind the safety of his sunglasses as he strolled down the sidewalk. From where he stood he could see all four streets of the crossing. Next to him was an unmarked industrial building and on the other side of the road were the shelter.

 

There was a lot of cars outside of the shelter, double parked on both sides of the street corner. Two men stood talking alongside them, leaning against the sweeps, taking a break from cleaning. Going by the overalls they worked for some kind of cleaning company. Eddie dismissed them instantly, they most likely worked all over.

 

Further down was the Ever Green Fine Food’s parking lot. A group of men sat along the wall in the shade, still wearing their unflattering hair nets as they watched something on their phones, laughing and talking on what was probably a well deserved rest.

 

**“What are we looking for Eddie?”** Venom asked, his voice echoing in Eddie's head as they walked further down Jenning street.

“We are looking for someone who saw what happened last night. Someone who knows that happened to our missing people.” 

 

**“They probably got eaten.”** Venom shared as it rose up to slide along the collar of the leather jacket, covering Eddie’s neck like a scarf. 

 

“I suppose it’s possible.” Considering the company he kept, he couldn’t exactly rule it out. “But it’s also possible that the same people who took you here are taking people for some reason. ” Eddie looked around as casually as he could to not attract attention. The last thing they needed was for Venom to eat a robber in the middle of the day. “If it is, then we need to figure out what they are using them for and if that is somehow connected to your species.”

 

**“If they are putting them together, Riot is probably killing them for fun.”** Venom tightened around his neck. **“Also, hu-mans don’t always survive being a host not matter what you do.”**

 

Eddie tripped over air. “Wait, what? Hosts die? 

 

Venom made a strangely sad noise that Eddie hadn’t heard before.  **“Venom tried not to but when I fell out of John I tried to take another host but it started dying right away.”**

 

“Shit. So you had no idea if I would survive when you decided to invade me?”

 

Venom didn’t respond but sinking down under his skin again was probably answer enough. 

 

This was not good. If Drake was trying to find people who would survive carrying aliens around inside of them he most likely had a plan for them and it probably wouldn’t be good. Also, god knows how many people would die. If they used Venom as a measuring tool than one in three died from it. Also, who ever Riot was sounded like it was going to be a problem.

 

**“Is that a female?”** Venom asked suddenly, pulling Eddie's attention back to here and now.

 

Looking around he looked at the figure leaning against the wall. “No, that’s looks like a male.” He said, giving the young man in question a closer look. Leaning against the wall, calmly smoking a cigarette he looked like he had all the time in the world to hang around a street corner. Considering the clothes, or perhaps, the lack of it he was a prostitute waiting for someone.

 

**“You said females were smaller. That human is small.”**

 

“Yes, but he’s just short.” That combined with the baby face, the ruffled hair and the Spiderman t-shirt he probably made a lot of money off of certain types of creeps. 

 

Venom grumbled, clearly unhappy about humans not sticking to the rules. 

 

Figuring he might as well check if he knew something, Eddie walked over for a chat.

 

“Hey.” He said casually, hunching his shoulder to not look too intimidating.

 

“I’m already booked up right now.” The guy said but he still gave Eddie a one over that he felt silly for being happy about. He knew he had kind of passed his best years and to have a good looking guy in his early twenties even giving him a second look felt like the best kind of compliment. Even if it was from a guy who just wanted to make money off of him. 

 

“Nah man, but thanks. I just want to know if you have heard of anyone disappearing around here.”

 

“You a cop? You have to say that you are if I ask, it’s like the law or something.” The blond said, blowing smoke in his face through pierced lips.

 

Eddie who was pretty sure that there was no such law shook his head. “No, a friend of mine had someone she knew taken and we want to know what happened.”

 

The guy looked skeptical but shrugged. “I’ve heard about it. Saw some people got into some cars and haven’t seen them since.”

 

Eddie fingered a couple of bills in his pocket, hoping he wasn’t going to have to use them. Feeding Venom was going to be expensive after all. “You know anyone who saw what happened to them?”

 

The young man shrugged. “Not much to see. They show up, throw around a bunch of money and talk a bunch of shit. Then anyone who feels like selling is picked up in a fancy car and no one ever sees them again.”

 

“Can you tell me anything about these shit talkers?”

 

“Not much, but some of them looked like smart people. Like they were doctors or lawyers or something.”

 

That also pointed towards Life Foundation. Drake was notorious for only employing the best.“Any markings on the cars?”

 

“Nah, but they were expensive. Not like new car expensive, like really expensive like those cars they have on tv that don’t make no noise when they go.”

 

“Electric cars?”

 

“Probably, I’m gay. I don’t know nothing about cars.” The hooker said with a smirk.

 

Eddie snorted in laughter. “That’s stereotyping, my husband loves cars.”

 

“There is always some weirdos.” The guy grinned happily with lipgloss covered lips. 

 

They talked some shit for a while like they were long time friends, complaining about the straights and the lack of decent rents. Eddie gave him his number in case the guy saw something and it wasn’t until he was walking away that he realized that he hadn’t said ex-husband. 

 

That was just depressing. Shouldn’t you get over your ex after five years apart? John must have moved on years ago. Probably…

 

“Hey Venom, when you are inside of someone, can you like… sense their emotions and stuff?”

 

**“From the brain? Yes, sparks from the brain that travels from one side to the other. They all taste differently.”**

 

“So when you were inside of John, could you tell if he was thinking about me?”

 

Venom peeked out in the v-neck of his t-shirt, peering out into the world.  **“Don’t know, hadn’t met you when I was one with John. I don’t know how your sparks look.”**

 

Well that was disappointing. “So you don’t know how he feels about me?”

 

**“He was very angry and sad when you came in to his cave.”** Venom shared.

 

“Great.” Eddie sighed. Why was he even surprised? John had made that pretty clear from the start. 

 

**“But he also wanted to mate with you.”** Venom said, sounding confused.

 

“Well that’s better than nothing.” He could work with that. Couldn’t he? But he probably shouldn’t. 

 

He went back up the street to duck into the shelter to ask some questions. A couple of hours later, Eddie had not gotten as much information as he was hoping. The staff shared that at least ten of their regulars had not been in for longer than usual and one of the road sweepers lived further down the street who had also seen someone get into an black expensive looking car. It was no a lot to go on. They were back on square one.


	9. The Dirty Laundry is Aired.

 

Venom really liked it in Eddie. Eddie was fun, he went fast on his bike and ate cake whenever they wanted to. Also, it could tell that Eddie was lonely and that being two made Eddie happy. Venom liked making Eddie happy. They fitted so well together. But there was one thing that set them apart where Eddie just would not bend on.

 

**“Can we climb that?”** Venom asked, peering up a t the high thing further down the thing hu-mans called street.

 

“No.” Eddie said, not even looking up at the high thing.

 

**“But it’s not as high as the other high place.”** Venom tried, giving Eddie a squeeze around his middle where all the soft things rested. Eddie sometimes gave it what it wanted if it asked  _ nicely _ and did the thing hu-mans called hugging. At least that was what Eddie called the careful strangling Venom had learned to do. It felt nice. Venom liked hugging.

 

“Still too high.” Eddie said, still not looking up at the high thing, just down at the flat thing that was called a phone. 

 

Venom made a noise of disgruntlement then one that was more whining. That had worked before when it had wanted more chocolate but it did not seem to work this time.

 

It tried again, but then the phone thingy started making noise and a picture of John came up on it.

 

**“John!”** Venom roared happily. It missed John.  

 

Eddie also has some kind of emotional reaction to seeing Johns name on the phone. It was a complicated, huge feeling that Venom didn’t fully understand. There was bad feelings and good feelings and tingling feelings of want for mating. Hu-mans, so many things inside them.

 

“Are you still alive?” John’s voice travel out through the phone.

 

“No, you are speaking to Eddies inanimate corpse right now.” Eddie said, sounding happy but feeling very sad. Venom did the hug thing again to make the it stop. 

 

“Considering the circumstances that joke is falling a bit flat.” John said, sounding angry.

 

Eddie sighed. “We're fine.”

 

“...We?”

 

“Yeah, me and Venom are getting along. We had some bumps but we are learning about each other and figuring it out.”

 

“Figuring out what?”

 

“You know, the whole sharing a living space, roommate agreement.”

 

Going by the long pause that followed, John was not amused. “Yeah, well I went back in to work and talked myself into the labs.”

 

Eddie was suddenly very excited, chemicals inside Eddies brain shooting out energy all the body. Venom rolled happily around in it, letting it get as excited as Eddie was. “What are they doing? What did you see?”

 

“They have figured out that a high frequency noise can force it out of a human. We just need to get you to a MRI machine and we can get the alien out.” John said out of the phone.

 

“Yeah ok no. No, that’s not a priority. We need to find out what Drake plans to do with the aliens. He must have a plan.”

 

“Eddie, would you stop being a journalist for five fucking seconds, for once in your life and listen. You can’t walk around with an alien inside of you just because you want to write a story. It could be doing god knows what inside of you right now.”

 

“Well mostly it just wants chocolate and to climb things, hardly world conquering worries there.”

 

**“Chocolate.”** Venom agreed, tumbling down inside of Eddie.

 

“Eddie, you are not listening, that thing could kill you. It has killed people, I’ve seen it myself. They crawl into people and destroy them from the inside out.”

 

“Venom is not going to hurt me.” Eddie huffed in disbelief.

 

“You don’t know that!” John sounded upset and Venom wished that it could be inside of John to give hugs.

 

Eddie took a shaky breath as if he had many things to say but choose not to say them… and hung up. They stood leaning against one of the tall things for a long time.

 

“Venom.” Eddie said, pushing his phone against his forehead. 

 

**“Yes?”**

 

“If you have any plans to kill me, please make it look like a accident, I don’t want John to be able to say ‘I told you so’ to my corpse.”

 

**“Venom will not hurt Eddie or John. are the best hosts, will protect and kill everything that threatens.”**

 

Eddie couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks dude, I appreciate it.”

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

Later that evening they were lying on the couch, barely watching some kind of bad TV show showing men and women getting drunk and flirting badly while wearing very little clothing. Eddie didn't even know which of the courting shows it was. Bachelor? Ex on the beach? Who knew, they were all horrible. Venom did seem to find it vaguely interesting so he hadn't changed the channel. Eddie who was still a bit stressed out from the phone call with John, amused himself with what he considered his new favorite hobby since Venom had showed himself.

 

Eddie had found that rolling Venom's body up and down his chest like he was working bread dough was pleasant for the both of them. For him it was calming, like squeezing a stress ball and Venom enjoyed it a lot going by the endless purring and the long tongue flopping about as he rolled.

 

**“Why are they fighting?** ” Venom asked, making Eddie glance up at the screen.

 

“Don't know but the woman in red is insulting the blonde ones breast implants.”

 

**“What is breasts and how are they planted?”**

 

Eddie snorted in amusement. “Females have breasts to feed their children and men like them so women try to catch their attention by having big ones.”

 

**“Are breasts good for fighting?”**

 

“More like the opposite.” Eddie snorted.

 

**“Humans are strange.”** Venom complained.  **“What is a female?”**

 

“Females are... a gender.” Eddie, knowing as he said it that it was going to take awhile to explain. Venom was in many ways like a small child going ‘why?’ over and over again.

 

**“What is gender?”**

 

Eddie sighed. “Oh man, I wished you would have asked that in the nineties when no one knew more than the two options.”

 

**“Options of what?”**

 

“ Look, you know how babies… offspring… tinny Klyntars come from?”

 

**“Yes. During The Passing when Klyntar is dry and dead, the strongest of the horde will part with enough mass to create a new life.”**

 

“Right… so… there is two Klyntars involved in creating new life, yes? They work together?” Eddie said, trying to find some kind of common ground to start with.

 

“ **No, only one for every new life. Why would you need two?”**

 

Things just got a lot more awkward explaining to an alien. “Ohhhkey. A little different around here.”

 

“ **Are you talking about mating? I know about mating. It's when a host catches a worthy carrier and they force their cells into the carrier to bind them to evolve it to new life. Dirt crawler carriers put their young ones in host’s dead mass.”**

 

Eddie gripped the mass on his chest sharply. “First, before anything else, there will be no forcing anyone to take anything. Okay?”

 

“  **Yes Eddie.”**

 

“Now… the 'carriers’ as you called them are mostly called Females and women. Other words are her and she.”

 

“ **Why?”**

 

“I… honestly don't know, it’s a human thing.” Eddie squished Venom in circle motion. “So, the one that puts their DNA into the females are mostly called men and male, he or him.”

 

**“And what is the not mostly part?”**

 

“Non- binary people who don't feel like they are female or male even if their bodies look like it. Or intersex people where the outside of the body doesn’t match the inside. Also gray-gendered people who don't feel like a gender at all.”

 

“  **Like me!”** Venom’s little body did a ripple, sounding a lot more pleased about the conversation.

 

“Oh, yeah. So… if someone were talking about you, what would they call you? If not male or female, you are…”

 

**“Loser. They would always call me loser.”**

 

“Fuckers.” Eddie wrapped his arms around Venom and hugged him- no,  _ it, _ to his chest until the squishy body swelled up in the gaps like putty. “They are clearly idiots because you are great Venom.”

 

Venom purred happily.

 

“So I should call you… it? Is that ok?”

 

**“Yes, Eddie. Venom likes dude too.”**

 

“Dude it is.” Eddie concluded, scratching his fingers into Venom’s soft body.

 

**“Tell me more about the mating.”** Venom demanded.

 

Of course, he was not getting out of it that easily. “So females have an egg inside of them and when a man is aroused  _ -and gets permission _ , very important to have permission  _ first _ ! Then they can put their… cells inside of the female’s egg and then there will be a new human. Completely without dead bodies.”

 

“ **Must have a strong female.”** Venom concluded. “ **You are a very good female.”**

 

Eddie snorted, squishing Venom with both hands against his chest. “Not female, I’m a man.”

 

Venom made a confused noise. “ **Why?”**

 

“Oh god...I was just born a man. I think I am male and I have all the right parts.”

 

“ **Are those the floppy bits?”**

 

Edddie twitched when it felt like someone poked his testicles from the inside. “Yes, those are my genitals. Please be careful.”

 

“ **That you use to fertilize the eggs in females.”** Venom asked, sounding skeptical.

 

“Right.” Eddie agreed. “Only, I have never… fertilized anyone because… reasons. Yeah, good reasons.”

 

“ **But you mated with John? And John has floppy bits too.”**

 

“That’s because we are gay. Well, he’s gay and I’m bisexual, but anyway.”

 

**“What is gay?”** Venom questioned, giving Eddie’s testicles another curious poke.

 

“It’s when you fall in love with the same gender as yourself.” Eddie simplified for his own sake.

 

Venom reached out and licked the underside of his chin. “ **Humans are complicated.”**

 

“I couldn't agree more dude.”

 

They went back to watching TV, where a new show about extreme buildings had just started. Eddie had found that if he dug his fingers into the back of Venom's head, it would make the long, pink tongue curl.

 

**“Eddie.”** Venom said.  **“Wanna go up on that.”**

 

Eddie frowned at the Shanghai tower, then shivered when the camera tipped it’s angle downwards.  “Oh hell no, no way in hell.”

 

**“Eddie.”** Venom complained.  **“Wanna be on top of everything, and look down on all the losers.”**

 

“Absolutely not, I am not going up there, humans are not meant to be that high off the ground. Also, it’s on the other side of the world.”

 

**“But John left the big rock, that is very high up.”**

 

“Well then you can ask John to take you up there. He’s a fucking adrenaline junky so I bet he would love risking his life for shits and giggles.” Eddie  remembered all too well when John had talked him into going mountain climbing. He had learned a lot about himself that trip. Everything from that it was possible for his body to completely freeze in fear and that being picked up by a helicopter was only slightly worse then almost falling off the mountain.

 

**“No, Venom will protect against anything!”**

 

“Sure, you delightful jelly cup filled with rage.” Eddie teased it fondly, imagining that if Venom had been there on that mountain, it would had been a hell of a lot more comforting than any ropes and helmets.

 

**“Rage!”** Venom echoes happily, clearly missing the mocking tone.  **“I will take John to the highest place on the rock and we will look down on all the inferior… except Eddie.”**

 

“Thanks buddy.”

 

“ **John is a great host. Strong and well shaped. And he's always very nice to other humans.”**

 

“He sure is, dude.” Eddie looked as the camera filmed the very top of the tower, imagining how happy Venom would be if John actually agreed to take him up there. He had no doubt that Venom would be able to get them up there, it was just the part about coming back down that he was a bit skeptical about. John would probably think that was the best part.

 

Venom seemed to like John a lot, especially considering that John hadn’t done much to make Venom feel welcome inside of him. There was almost something familiar about the way Venom would speak about John, almost like...

 

“Do you have a crush on John?” He said as the thought struck him.

 

**“No, I don’t want to crush John, he’s nice. Also he's very well proportioned and doesn't need to be altered.”**

 

Eddie laughed, rubbing his hands over his face. “Oh my god, the alien in my head has a crush on my ex.”

 

**“No crushing John!”** Venom roared in outrage.

 

“No, a crush, that’s what we call it when… someone likes another person, romantically.”

 

Venom stretched up curiously. **“What is romantically?”**

 

Eddie sighed, feeling really out of his deeps here. He really was the wrong person to explain human emotions. “Like being in love. A crush is… like the stage before falling in love.”

 

**“What is love?”**

 

“Baby don’t hurt me.” Eddie mumbled like a true youth of the 90’s.

 

**“Babies can’t hurt anyone. I don’t understand what we are talking about.”** Venom grumbled, sounding very unhappy with the turn of conversation.

 

“Sorry, just, this is really strange for me.” Eddie made an effort to gather his thought. “So, you like John a lot.”

 

**“Yes.”**

 

“How do you like him?”

 

**“Want to claim him. “** Venom rumbled. **“Want to make sure no one dares to touch him because he is ours!”**

 

Eddie nodded. Not quite what he expected but not out of character. “Well that might be the Klyntar version of it.” 

 

The commercials came on and Eddie watched as some kids went bananas for chocolate bars. He should probably buy more of those. Venom went through a lot of chocolate. Not that Eddie was complaining, this diet was amazing.

 

“Am I still getting the nutrients I need?” he asked as the thought struck him.

 

**“Yes Eddie, I'm making sure that everything is working the way it should.”**

 

“Great.” he stroke Venom over the head.“So back to John. You are not going to do anything weird to him are you?

 

**“We should win him!”** Venom exclaimed loudly, it's voice making his head feel like the inside of a ringing bell.  **“Win him in battle!”**

 

Yeah, no. “ I doesn't work that way here.” Eddie said, ignoring the story of the Trojan war and everything in history since then that proved him wrong.

 

**“You dare say that John is not worthy of being won by death and destruction?!”**

 

Eddie paused. “I don’t know how to answer that.” 

 

**“We will show him his value by slaughtering all his enemies in his name.”**

 

This was going to get out of hand, he just knew it. “John doesn’t really have any enemies... unless you count random homophobes.” Oops! Eddie wanted to beat himself over the head, he really should not have said that.

 

**“How do we find these homophobes?!”** Venom boomed, sounding ecstatic about this new enemy.

 

He really should learn to think before he speaks. “You know, they have a habit of popping up when you least expect them. We shouldn’t go looking for them.”

 

**“We will be ready.”** Venom rumbled.

Yeah, this was not going to end well. Also there was a big obstacle that he probably should make Venom aware of before it got any other bright ideas. “There is just one big problem… besides the alien thing and that is that John probably doesn't ever want to have a relationship with me.”

 

“ **Why?”**

 

“ John and I were together…  some years ago.”

 

Venom blinked curiously at him.  **“Why not anymore?”**

 

“Fuck.” Eddie sighed trying to think of a way to explain it to an alien. “So there was this story I wrote that ended up creating a big mess. A guy who was pretty ill ended up killed because I wrote a story telling everyone that he was a murderer. Turned out that he was just imagining things and the real killer was someone else.”

 

It had been the worse low he had ever experienced at that point and he had been left devastated and hollow. He had thought his professional life was over and that he might as well quit when not even his father in law would let him write for him.

 

“I was blacklisted, but I got a chance to write a story for a new paper but it needed to be really big for them to dare print it with my name on it.” And hadn't that been a bitter pill to swallow. He had just worked his way up to the point where his name carries some weight and then in a second the same name was one of the biggest media scandals at the time. “I had a tip for some huge cover up of tax money disappearing.”

 

“I didn't have any evidence besides the anonymous leak so I... kind of seduced this guy to get information about this scandal, that NASA was covering up this huge budget overdraw to found a project that hadn’t been approved.”

 

**“What is seduced?”** Venom questioned.

 

Eddie struggling with his reluctance to explain. “Um, you kind of… lure someone to… mate with you”

 

**“You mated with another!”** Venom roared, its outrage making Eddies head ring.

 

Venom rose like a black wave over his head, tentacles shooting out to drag him right off the couch and across the floor.

 

Eddies yelled in protest for being dragged, then in fright as a black string reached out and ripped the living room window open. 

 

Venom wasn’t big enough to cover his whole body so Eddie used his free legs to try to hold back but he was no match for the pissed off alien.

 

The cool night air rushed over them as Eddie ended up hanging, head first over the edge.

 

**“You dare!”** Venom pulling Eddie further out over the edge, his legs kicking uselessly in the air.

 

The world spun and he had never been more aware of his fear of heights. 

 

**“And then what did you do?!”** Venom twisted around him, leaving his head bare so that he was forced to look down, all five floors down to the alley far below.  **“Was your betrayal worth it?! What did you do?!”**

 

“I used John's access to get into their server!” Eddie confessed in a rush. “Then I pretended that I had gotten all the information from a anonymous source! Only everyone ended up thinking that John had done it!” Eddie sucked in a shallow breath, his head spinning in fright. “So John got fired.”

 

For a painfully long moment, Venom let him hand there, body mostly suspended by black tentacles over the windows sill. Painfully slow, Venom pulled Eddie back into the apartment.  **“Eddie.”**

 

“Yeah?” Eddie breathed out in relief as Venom went back into his body, leaving him to sink down to sit on the floor with shaking legs.

 

**“We will get John back, but you must do something for us first.”**

 

“Yes? What?” Eddie agreed, just happy to be back in the apartment again.

 

**“I'm going to share thousands of years of Klyntar shared knowledge with you.”**

 

“Lay it on me.” Eddie panted, sliding down until he was on his back on the floor.

 

**Try harder… not to be a dick.”**

 

Eddie sighed. “Right, thanks buddy.”

 

**“I will help. Because when a Klyntar thinks you are being a dick… then you are really being a dick.”**

 

“You now, I think I liked you better when your vocabulary was more limited.”

 

**“Every bad habit I have I learned from you.”** Venom said smugly.  **“John is much nicer.”**

 

“Nicer? He was cursing me out when we first met.”

 

**“You deserved it.”** Venom said dismissively.

 

”You didn't know that then.”

 

**“I know John is nice to nice people.”**

 

Eddie couldn’t argue with that. “Fuck you.”

 

**“You need to say sorry. When you do something that hurts someone and you regret it, then you say sorry. You told me that. You need to say sorry to John.”**

 

Eddie laid there for a moment as his heart rate went down, trying to remember if he had ever apologize for cheating on John. Actually, he already knew the answer to that.

 

“You are right, I’ll say sorry. You should say sorry for something like that.”

 

Venom reached out and petted his cheek, not saying a word about the tears leaking from his eyes.


	10. John Gets His Swing On

Eddie figured that considering the way they ended the phone call, they really should drop by John’s apartment and smooth out their argument before John did something stupid. Like call his boss and tell that madman about Venom. All of  them would end up in a lab and never see the sun again.

 

Also, Venom was not letting this apology go. It had even made Eddie stop at a store on the way to buy the fanciest chocolate they could find as a 'offerein’ to John.

 

So the very next day, Eddie dropped by John's apartment with more than a slight reluctance. Venom on the other hand had been happily chanting  **“John! John! John!”** since they got on the bike.

 

John’s apartment was a nice one in the northside of Richmond district, close to the park with lots of fancy details and underground parking. It was also the same apartment that John had kicked him out of five years ago. Eddie had a lot of feelings about it that he tried not to think about. The chanting did not make things better.

 

With his heart pounding, Eddie raised a sweaty hand to knock on the door. If it hadn't been for Venom, he would have turned around and left. John opened the door and for just a second he looked happy to see him, before adopting a more neutral face. “Still alive then?”

 

Eddie just nodded because that single second of happiness had brought on a storm inside of him. He missed John. It was something that he tried very hard not to think about, especially after John had started threatening him with a contact prohibition after he just... dropped by for a chat a couple of times after they broke up. At night. Without any warning.

 

But that single moment of happiness on his face made all those emotions rush back like a wave.

 

“So, what does he say he wants?” John said, leaning back in his wheelchair like this story better be good or Eddie would not like the consequences. 

 

Eddie had to take a moment to even understand who they were talking about. The emotional roller coaster taking him down memory lane was messing with his head and for a moment it was like they were back in time, complaining about work and planning what they were going to do this weekend. He was just waiting for John to stroke a hand down his stomach and call him his little sweetheart. Venom was not making it better by questioning the reaction and talking about how good it tasted.  “Well, first of all, Venom’s not a he, it just sounds like a he. It identifies as gray- gendered and prefers to be called dude or it.”

 

“Right…” John rubbed his hands over his face, like he was getting a headache. “So, I got infected by a virus? A egg? Did Venom end up in me by accident or on purpose? What does it want?”

 

“No, it... “Eddie started, trying to listen to Venom ramble at the same time as he tried to hold his body back because the damned parasite was slowly trying to pull him down towards John’s lap. “Venom says that it choose you and that the joining is very important to it. It says that it’s kind of like being married, that you take care of each other and live your life together.”

 

Their eyes met and then they both looked away. Their marriage had not been like that. They had both been too young and too focused on their own dreams. John had been fully focused on getting to space, to get a chance to do some real exploring and actually get the chance to leave the planet. Eddie on the other hand had constantly been on the hunt for the next big story, like he couldn’t rest until he had caught someone out.

 

Then the Sin Eater had happened. It had been horrible, a serial killer in New York, killing off police men and women, scaring everyone. Eddie had been so hungry for the story, so invested in being the one that got the the big break. It would have been the highlight of his career and Eddie had been so sure that he had gotten the right guy to confess, that he was going to blow the case right open.

 

Instead it had gotten an innocent, if delusional man lynched by a mob.

And then… well, in a classic Eddie move, he ended up making everything worse for everyone.

 

But here, right now, Eddie was going to turn it around. He was going to apologize for real and make things better, for once. This time was going to be different.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

  
  


John wondered why this always happened. Why? Why did they always have to fight?

 

Things had gone to hell almost from the start. Eddie had dropped by so that they could talk about what they were going to do about the alien and things had very quickly escalated from there.

 

“I didn't sleep with Carol!” Eddie screamed. “You fucking jealous bastard!”

 

“And I sure had no reason to be, right? I was gone for a  _ week _ and you fell into be with my boss.”

 

The rage in Eddies eyes felt like a punch. “It was for the job and he was embezzling money anyway.”

 

“Yeah that just makes me feel so much better.” John barely resisted the urge to throw anything he could reach at this man who had betrayed him so badly. “That kept me warm when I couldn’t get a job because I got branded a traitor!”

 

“That was not my fault!” Eddie shouted.

 

Of course it wasn't, it was never Eddies fault, the absolute bastard. “Then who’s fault was it Eddie?! Was it my fault? I dare you to say it!”

 

“Well I’m sorry we can’t all be perfectly like you.” Eddie spat.

 

**“Stop it, be nice to John!”** They both startled when Venom suddenly rose up over Eddies shoulder, bearing it’s teeth down at Eddie.

 

“Stay out of this Venom.” Eddie put up a finger in warning. “This is none of your business.”

 

**“No, you are being a asshole and now John is sad. You should stop being a dick.”**

 

“I’m being a dick?! He’s the one who-” And that is when Venom engulfs Eddie's head, drowning out what was undoubtedly going to be anything but nice. 

 

Eddie stumbled, knocked over a chair and a magazine stand with what looked like a large black sock puppet with a lot of teeth covering him.

 

John gaped as the black mass started to take shape until a humanoid looking creature was now towering over him. Venom had completely covered Eddie from his head all the way down to just below his hip, like Eddie was wearing the strangest lycra shorts ever seen over his jeans that were sticking out. “Um, hello Venom.” John breathed.

 

**“Hello John, Eddie can’t talk right now because he’s busy being an asshole.”**

 

“Oh.” John said faintly. Venom was completely alien in his- it’s appearance. completely black aside from the milky white eyes and the sharp looking teeth that grinned over at him.

 

**“Would you like some chocolate? We brought many different kinds.”** Venom offered, a thin string shooting out of it’s arm and attaching itself to the plastic bag Eddie had with him, dragging it across the floor towards them.

 

“Thank you?” John said faintly, not sure how to react. And that was how he found himself sitting on his couch, eating chocolate with an alien. Men In Black had nothing on this experience. 

 

**“This one I like. It has crunchy bits in it. It feels like when you are biting down on something with small bones, crushing them effortlessly.”**

 

“I’ve always been fond of the ones with mint filling for a bit of contrast. Dark chocolate followed by sweet soft mint cream.” John shared as he watched the agile tongue pick up a dark praline out of the box.

 

**“You make a compelling argument.”** It said before curling the tongue around the piece and crushing it it the loop, making it bleed sticky white mint filling.

 

“Is... Eddie okay in there?” He eyed Eddies legs that had given up on kicking Venom and was now crossed in an aggressive manner under the table.

 

**“He’s sulking. Like a child.”** Venom said, poking Eddie’s jeans covered legs with a sharp looking claw.  **“Yes you are. You were rude to John, we agreed not the be a dick to John.”**

 

“Can I ask why you two agreed to this?” It seemed like a oddly specific thing for a human and someone from an alien race to agree on.

 

Venom tilted his head, it’s long tongue peeking out as if to scent the air. And maybe it did. Venom was a honest to god  _ alien _ , who knew how it worked.

 

**“Because you are our favorite.”** Venom said simply.

 

“Oh…” John did not know how to feel about that.

 

**“I have been inside of you John, I know everything about you and you are wonderful. Eddie thinks so too. That is why he needs to be nice to you, because he is always sad after being mean to you.**

 

“Oh.” John said again, unable to voice anything more than that.

 

**“Eddie takes things for granted, he forgets that the things you want are the things you have to fight and kill for.”**

 

John licked his lips, tasting mint and chocolate. “Is that the way it is on your planet?” 

 

**“Yes, always fighting.  They thought Venom was a loser. Didn’t like it on Klyntar, this rock is much better. Also, you and Eddie are here and that is the best thing.”**

 

That was.. actually kind of sweet in a strange way.

 

“Where is Klyntar? Is it far from here?”

 

**“Really far away.”** Venom said with a nod.

 

This is the moment. This was when John  _ really _ understood what he had in front of it. Like something straight out of his favorite body snatcher movie, Invaders From Mars. A real life spacetraveler that had come from so far away, that no human would ever match it within a hundred year.

 

There was only one thing to do. John dug out every single starmap he owned and he had wanted to work for NASA since he was five. 

 

It took a while to explain the concept of maps and the flat perspective of space that you had to adapt to be able to even draw up a map before they managed to start their quest for Venom’s home planet. Apparently Eddie hadn’t had much interest in finding out where his hitchhiker came from and Venom was very happy to share everything John wanted to know.

 

From what John could understand, Venom and his exploration team had ended up on the asteroid GVN757-4 after the space ship they had hitched a ride on from Klyntar had crashed there. 

 

John’s hands were practically shaking as he pumped Venom for any information that he had about the aliens that called themselves Droomes. Unfortunately, Venom had spent most of that very long travel in hibernation since the leader, Riot had not trusted it to take a host. John was nevertheless thrilled just to know that somewhere out there, was a race of dinosaur looking aliens who were intelligent, friendly and helpful to fellow space travelers. 

Venom told him all about Klyntar culture, the things it had seen along the way and after a while they managed to narrow it down to one of the planets circling MACS J1149+2223… that was about five billion light years away. John really hoped, for Venom’s sake, that it would never get homesick.

 

“So, you and the Klyntars on earth are the only ones around?” John asked, feeding the agile tongue another chocolate muffin. They had long ago run out of pralines and had moved on to John’s emergency snacks.

 

**“No, the other teams are on the moving big rock.”** Venom said, chewing happily.

 

“There were more of you on the asteroid?” John asked hesitantly. That was exactly the kind of thing Mr Drake would like to know. He really should find some way to tell his boss about what he knew. Only, he really didn’t want the three of them to end up in a lab to be tested for God knows how long.

 

Venom made a sigh like noise. “Eddie wants a glass of water because all the chocolate is making him thirsty.”

 

John blinked, looking down at the jeans covered legs, honestly having forgotten all about Eddie being there at all. From how dark it had gotten outside, they had been going on a while. “Um, sure. I’ll go get some.” 

 

He rolled into the kitchen to pour some water while Venom complained about wasteful human body functions.

 

With the glass trapped between his legs, he took a moment to watch Venom pet Eddies knees lovingly.

 

“Could you…” John hesitated for a moment, putting the glass down on the livingroom table. It was reckless but he had been thinking about it non stop and he really wanted to know. “Could you come over here for a moment? I didn't know you were in here before and I want to know what it was like.” He held out his hand, palm up in invitation. 

 

**“Yes John.”** And then it melted like ice cream off a stick, leaving Eddie blinking at the sudden light.

 

The black lump rolled over the livingroom table, coming towards him like a small wave. It stopped at the edge of the table, slim tentacles reaching out towards him like a child wanting to be picked up.

 

John barely hesitated before taking it in his hands.

 

When John was 15, his father had taken him along to his hunting cabin in North Dakota. J. Jonah Jameson had never said a bad word about his sexuality, but in the years after telling him, their father and son activities suddenly took a more masculine turn. Less museums and more camping and living rough. That hunting trip was when he had shot his first and only moose and then been made to cut it up to build character.

 

John had found the experience traumatizing and had become vegetarian for over ten years following that experience. But he could still remember the feeling of having that huge, slimy moose liver in his hands, slipping around over his fingers. 

 

Holding Venom was both very similar and completely different. 

Venom was much warmer first of all, also alive and rippling instead of dead and cooling. But the sliding, almost jello like feeling was the same. It felt like he was holding something that was very obviously essential for life. Like the wobbly weight in his hands was meant to be handled gently.

 

Carefully, half expecting to be bitten, John ran a careful finger down the slope of the lump. It rose to meet him, bumping in to the palm of his hand like an affectionate cat looking for attention. He did it again and a tentacle rose to get attention.

 

This was far from scary. Not even when it started sinking into his skin, disappearing inside of him did John feel any fear. For a moment nothing happened, he just sat in his wheelchair and looked down at his now empty palms. Then he started to notice his muscles relaxing and how the tension in his shoulders was suddenly just gone.

 

“Venom?” He asked hesitantly.

 

**“Yes, John?”** The voice boomed in his head, much louder than he remembered.

 

John had to take a moment, just to take in his body and the feeling of a presence that felt very much like the closeness of a hug from a loved one. It felt very… nice. It felt warm and inviting. He could feel Venom twisting and pushing inside of him giving what felt like a strange kind of massage. From the inside. “Hi.” He said dumbly, patting his own stomach where he could feel Venom pushing back.

 

**“Hello, John.”** Venom rumbled happily. 

 

Eddie cleared his throat for attention. “So, Venom wants to climb really tall buildings with you.”

 

“What?” John said, a bit unsure about what they were talking about.

 

“Yeah, that’s my reaction too.” Eddie said as he got up and went into the kitchen with his now empty glass.

 

John patted his stomach that made a happy noise boom in his head. “Venom?”

 

**“We should go up on all the high places and see everything and be the highest!”** Venom rumbled happily.

 

“We an do that. There are several places in San Francisco where we could go to see the view. Most have elevators all the way to the top.” John agreed.

 

**“Noooo.”** Venom complained.  **“Wanna climb up on them ourselves.”**

 

“Right, and how are you planning to do this? Humans in general are not very good at climbing up glass surfaces.” He had just enough time to say it before his arm was lifted without any input from him and a black strand shoot up towards the ceiling. The next second he was pulled out of his chair and found himself dangling from the ceiling. “Well, that’s interesting.” He said, looking down at his casts that swung gently.

 

“Venom, please be careful with John’s legs.” Eddie called from the kitchen where he seemed to be drinking his fourth glass of water.

 

**“Yes, Eddie.”** Venom said, a black rope giving the casts a curious poke, making him swing gently from side to side. John briefly worried about the plaster but this was all too cool to worry about something that silly.

 

**“Climbing would be easier without the hard bits. You should take them off your limbs.”** Venom suggested.

 

John laughed. “Well it’s not that easy. I’m going to take them off, I just can’t right now. When humans hurt themselves, it takes time for them to recover, I broke the bones in my legs in several places and I can’t take it off until they have healed or I might damage them even more.”

 

The answer seemed to confuse Venom. **“Oh… So why haven’t you taken them off then?”**

 

“Because they are not healed yet.” John said patiently.

 

**“Yes they are.”** Venom grumbled.

 

John sighed. If only. “No, not yet. It takes up to twelve weeks for human legs to heal.”

 

**“No, I fixed them.”**

 

This made both human’s stop what they were doing. “You… fixed them?”

 

**“Yes.”**

 

“You healed my legs?” John looked down at his legs. It was true that he had not needed to take any of the painkillers he had been given… but healed?

 

**“Yes, they they are not damaged anymore. I put them back together.”**

 

“And how long have they been healed?” John asked, feeling like he already knew the answer to that.

 

**“Long time.”** Venom said dismissively.

 

“HOW long?”

 

**“Since you were sleeping after we came to the rock.”**

 

All the trouble he had been having with his wheelchair flashed before his eyes. “I’ve been stuck in a wheelchair for weeks! I haven’t showered properly in months! And you didn’t tell me you had already fixed them?!”

 

Venom poked the casts.  **“Humans are strange, I thought you just liked them. I can destroy them if you want?”**

 

“Yes! Get them off me now. Please!” Venom sank him back in his chair and for a second, nothing happened. Then there was a sharp crack as the cast broke apart, black goo forcing its way out and pushing the edges away from each other.

 

John watched in awe as Venom broke him out before sinking back in under his skin. For a second he only sat there, as if waiting for the pain to set in. Then he got up gingerly, wobbling a bit before finding his balance. He was standing! His legs were fine! Fuck physical therapy, having an alien was the best!

 

“Ok, let’s go climbing. We’ll climb anything you want.” John promised happily. Venom had deserved it. He was so thrilled he would have agreed to climb Mount Everest. “So what’s the plan?”

 

**“Venom will protect you and we will swing and climb up on the high places.”**

 

“Go for it, I trust you.” John said, surprised to find that he wasn’t lying. He felt Venom slide over his shoulders, covering him from the back of his neck all the way down over his fingers.

 

Curious, he wandered over to the hallway mirror and took his shirt off to look. He looked like a bondage daddy who had just stepped out of the club. John had to be honest, it wasn’t a bad look. Ink black and smooth, Venom stretched over his arms like latex, across his shoulder blades down over his hands.

 

“So how are you going to do this?” John asked, flexing his biceps in a classic pose. 

 

A black string shot out from the palm of his hand, straight up towards the ceiling. He was just about to ask how that was going to help in the long run when he found himself getting pulled upwards before another string was shot out to catch onto the ceiling in the living room

 

“Whoow!” He shouted like a child as Venom swung him straight through the apartment, lifting his legs like he was on a zip-line. Another string shot out towards the kitchen. “Holyshiiiii!” John screamed, half in fear, half in uncontrolled joy of the speed Venom swung them around. Eddie quickly ducked out of the way as they came rushing through the air. Quick as a blink of an eye, another black string shot out from about chest height, pulling them to a stop before they could hit the refrigerator.

“This is going to be wicked.” John said with glee.

 

**“Yessss.”** Venom agreed happily.  **“Let’s climb the high things.”**

 

“Yes. But we should probably disguise me somehow. I don’t really want anyone to see me and ask how I was doing it.”

 

**“How?”** Venom asked, clearly not understanding why that was necessary. 

 

“I should find something to hide my face.” John tried to think of anything he could use. He didn’t have any motorcycle masks left, he had thrown them all out when his divorce had gone through.

 

**“Like this?”** Venom asked just before everything went completely dark for a long moment before John had the strange realization that he was looking through Venom’s eyes. He took a look around, edmited that Venom’s eyesight was a lot better than his before protesting.

 

“Please don’t go over my eyes. I like seeing where we are going myself.” Good eyesight is all well and good but John would admit to being a bit of a control freak.

 

Venom lowered itself until it covered him from the bridge of his nose, down over his jaw and all the way down his throat. That felt a lot better and he went back to the mirror to check it out. It looked like he was wearing a tight black latex face mask. If he had been similar to something out of a bondage magazine before, it was nothing on how he looked now.

 

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, taking a few deep breath as he wondered how that was even possible.

 

**“I suppose that works”** He said, unreasonably surprised when his voice came out sounding like Venom’s.   **“Are you ready for this?”** He asked.

 

As he watched, the black mass across his face opened up in a wide toothy grin, tongue swiping out. It made him look like he was wearing a really kick ass halloween costume.  **“Yes, John.”** The mouth moved but the voice still sounded like it came from the inside of his head.

 

“I don’t know if you guys look like the coolest bad guy ever from a b-action movie or just like some random punk out to rob a bank.” Eddie said sarcastically.

 

**“We think we look great.”** They answered, glaring at Eddie where he stood leaning against the doorway.

 

“Are you guys really doing this?” Eddie asked, glancing out the window out at the dark alley outside.

 

**“Yes.”** They said without hesitation, excitement running through the both of them like a shiver.

 

Venom opened the window and John felt a rush, the kind he got before skydiving, before stepping into the rocket simulator. The same feeling that came over him when he powered up LF1 for the first time.

 

Joy of the moment, of the adventure.

 

They slipped out over the window sill, Venom encased his body with spider web looking straps, lifting him up. John felt a unbelievable relief, he was not confined to a wheelchair, he was free and he was going to do the maddest thing he had ever done.

 

One breath, frozen in time, then they tipped over the edge. The first drop, falling down was like nothing he had ever experienced. John knew he should be scared but Venom was all around him, protecting him.

 

As one they raised their arm, shooting out a strand far out into the dark. John didn’t have to look to know that it had hit it’s target, he could feel it stick. And then they were flying. 

 

As one they swung through the cool night air, throwing themselves between the buildings.

 

Venom had been on to something, because being the highest, looking down at all the ant sized people down there was a amazing rush.

 

They made their way across the city, far over the familiar streets. John lost himself in the motion and the rush, in the adventure of it all.

 

He watching their reflection in the Saleforce tower as they climbed towards the top. No one would ever recognize him because they really looked like a movie villan. They spent a long time at the top of the tower, taking in the beauty of the city, pointing out all his favorite  parts to Venom who listened attentively. 

 

From there they moved on until the inevitably ended up swinging across the city, over to the Golden Gate Bridge. They took at seat at the top, looking out over the water.

 

**“Hey, Venom?”** John started as he looked over at the Life Foundation’s main office that rested in the Kirby Cove next to the water.  **“Do you think Riot is going to be a problem.”**

 

Venom was quiet for a moment, it’s claws scratching absently against the red metal.  **“Yes, it only knows violence and domination. It will show no mercy.”**

 

**“Shit.”** John sighed, unsure of what to do. He was going to have to warn Mr Drake somehow, who knew what would happen if he didn’t.

 

**“We need to kill Riot.”** Venom rumbled.

 

John let it sink in.  **“Okay. We need to go back home. I can get us in to the building.”**

 

Venom made a noise of agreement and they swung their way back across the dark city.

 

“Back already?” Eddie asked around a carrot as they crawled back into the apartment. Eddie had made himself comfortable on the couch with what looked like the entire content of the vegetable drawer. John decided not to ask, choosing instead to go looking for his pass and a black hoodie. They should look the part if they were going to break in.

 

They didn’t speak as they went back out, swinging through the city, back towards the Life Foundation, both lost in thought.

 

**“You really want to do this?”** John couldn’t help but ask, later as they stood in the shadows, waiting for the guard to go on his round.

 

**“Yes, must protect you and Eddie.”** Venom said without hesitation.

 

Swinging over the road block they made their way towards one of the back doors. John only had a vague idea of where all the cameras were but Venom seemed to spot them all. A quick tentacle would reach out and block every lense as they passed, making sure that they wouldn’t end up on any cameras. The ironic part, John thought he swiped his ID and the doors opened, was that if Eddie wrote an article about all this, everyone was probably going to suspect him for stealing the pass and breaking in to the lab. John couldn’t possibly have done it. After all, he was in a wheelchair. 

 

Revenge was sweet.

 

They made their way down to the lab, blocking cameras and bending open the doors that wouldn’t open to his pass.

 

And then... there was Riot.

 

**“So… what do we do?”** John asked, looking through the glass at the tumbling red mass in it’s tube.

 

**“We open the thing it is in.”**

 

That didn’t sound like a good plan but it wasn’t like he had any better idea.

 

It took him awhile but he managed to find the button controlling the tube, watching as Riot poured itself out into the glassincased room. It shouldn’t be possible but the lump of goo managed to look both smug and elevated as it rolled towards them. It looked like it thought it had won.

 

Triumph soon turned into outage when it realized that Venom wasn’t going to let it out of the room.

 

**“What now?”** John asked as Riot started to beat the glass, making it vibrate.

 

**“Now we wait.”** Venom rumbled.

 

As they watched Riot fell to the floor, twitched and turned in pain. It’s body stretching and twisting around itself, making John remember the way his Captain had died screaming on LF1. They stood there until Riot shuddered one last time and died.

 

**“Is it over?”** He asked carefully, dragging a hand down the part covering his face in comfort.

  
**“Yes, let’s go home.”** Venom said, as quiet as John had ever heard it be.


	11. Let's Give it a Go

“Did you guys have fun?” Eddie asked as they came back inside and Venom slipped off his body until it rested like a backpack against his shoulder blades.

 

“We had a great time and we are going to be doing it again soon.” John grinned, despite the fact that his cheeks had started to hurt from all the smiling he had done during their adventure. It beat anything he had ever done, this including being on a spaceship.

 

“Isn’t that right dude?” John asked, scooping Venom up from where it was peeking out from over his shoulder.

 

**“Yes John, we were the highest and we looked down at everyone.”**

 

“We sure did.” John agreed.

 

“So am I ever getting Venom back or do we have to have shared custody.” Eddie asked. The question could have been defensive but there was nothing but happiness as he watched Venom curling up in John’s hands.

 

“I’m sure we can work something out.” John laughed, giving Venom a little squeeze that made the lovely lump of goo start purring. It might just be the cutest thing John had ever seen. “So why are you called Venom when you are such a sweetheart.” John cooed, petting the affectionate little tentacles that rose to meet his hand.

 

Venoms shape did some kind of complicated ripple and then swung across the room, over to Eddie and melting down under his skin.

 

“Holy shit man, you managed to make Venom shy. I didn’t know the dude could get embarrassed enough to hide.” Eddie laughed. “No dude, you’re the pussy. No, seriously, can you even look at him right now. Dude, pussy.” Eddie teased gleefully, poking himself in the stomach. “We agreed not to be a dick to John, we never said anything about being dicks to each other.”

 

“So why did you agreed not to be a dick to me?” John couldn’t help but ask, feeling like his life was turning into a Star Trek episode. One that took place on the holodeck.

 

Eddie shrugged, looking embarrassed. “Reasons. We agreed to, or Venom made a very compelling argument by hanging me over the edge of the roof.”

 

John startled. “What?”

 

Eddie seemed to hesitate before answering. “Yeah, I had to explain how I cheated on you and it wasn’t very happy with me.” Eddie thumped himself in the chest. “I know, I’m getting to it.” Eddie grew quiet as if listening to a voice in his head, whitch was exactly what he was doing. “I’m not an idiot Venom, let me do this.” Eddie took a deep, calming breath.

 

“I never really apologized for that, did I?” It was a rhetorical question because they both knew that all Eddie had presented was a bunch of excuses. “I just want to say, that I am so sorry for what I did. I should have known better than to betray you like that and I would do anything to go back into time and kick my own ass for even considering doing something so horrible just for an article.” Eddie took a deep breath. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but you deserve an apology.”

 

John had to take a moment. That was the first time Eddie had ever admitted that what he had done had been cheating. All these years… It was amazing how much of a relief it was to hear it after so long.

 

But from this little speech, something else had become very obvious. Time might have passed and they might look different, but John still knew Eddie. “You are still in love with me aren’t you?”

 

Eddie looked like he wanted more then anything for it to be his turn to sink down into Venom's skin.

 

“Kind of?” Eddie offered.

 

So mature, his ex husband.

 

John sighed. Did he really want to go down this road? Did he really want to risk it? Eddie was a mess, he was always a complete mess. He was rude, selfish and forgot you even existed when he was hunting down a story. 

 

But he had also made life fun. Life had been much more exciting when Eddie had been it it. When he was happy, smiling like a little pleased boy, there was nothing like it.

 

But Eddie wasn’t the same as he had been before. He was a lot calmer now days, less angry with the world. And considering all the shit that had been going down lately he had every reason to be anything but calm.

 

Eddie could make you feel like you were the best person on the planet, like you could do anything because Eddie believed in you.

 

And then there was Venom. The alien that was living inside of Eddie.

 

Strangely enough, this was not the biggest obstacle John had with this situation. As it was, he probably trusted Venom more with his emotional wellbeing than he did Eddie.

 

But he wanted the chance to get to know that man Eddie had grown into.

 

God, his dad was going to be so thrilled if he heard that they were getting back together. They had always been a lot a like, both of them like a dog with a bone for a good story.

 

John took a long, deep breath. “How about this, the two of you can take me out on a date next Friday. And then we can talk about what to do.”

 

Eddie looked like he had been hit over the head so it was Venom who rose up to answer.  **“Yes. We will show our worth.”**

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

  
  


When Friday night finally came around, Eddie was more or less vibrating out of his own skin and he found himself in the strange situation when the alien inside of his was in charge of the pep talk.

 

But everything was set in motion now. The table had been booked, he had gone shopping, he had gotten a haircut, had shaved and had spent a long time drilling human etiquette into Venom to make sure everything would be perfect. He had planned for everything… except for the obvious.

 

**“Eddie. Hungry, Eddie.”**

 

“Not right now, ok buddy, we’ll go to a pizza place on the way back, you liked pizza.” And hadn't lunch been a experience yesterday. Venom had liked cheese a lot but the mess he had left behind had been hard to explain without looking like a jackass. Hopefully the tip he had left behind would keep them from getting banned but they probably should avoid that place for a while just in case.

 

Venom made a dismissive noise.  **“No, want more, pizza is too small. Flat and dead.”**

 

“Well I’m not going to some pet store to buy you any rats to eat if that’s what you are aiming for.” Alas, that would make them late and he really didn’t want to be late.

 

**“What is rat?”** Venom asked, reaching out to pet the back of Eddie’s newly shaved neck. It had been awfully fascinated by his new haircut.

 

“It’s a small animal that eats anything they can find, gets in everywhere and will outlive just about anything.”

 

**“Like me.”** Venom rumbled happily.

 

Eddie snorted in agreement.“If you can catch any of the pigeons you are free to eat them.”

 

**“What is pigeon?”**

 

“That would be the animal up there on the roof.” Eddie said, waving his hand up towards the edge of a phone line where a row of gray and white doves sat, peering down at them like gargoyles in the dark.

 

**“Eddie, we should climb up and eat it!”**

 

“No climbing.” Eddie was putting his foot down on this.

 

**“Just a little climbing?”** Venom whined.

 

“ _ No climbing _ .” Eddie refused to be pulled along somewhere high. He did not doubt for a second that Venom could get them both up on top of the highest buildings around, but that did not mean he wanted to. He especially did not want that while wearing his best outfit. He was even wearing a tie!

 

Eddie had never been one for dressing up or making an effort. Most of his dates had been in relaxed environments with clothes that came off easily.

 

John had been the one to take them to events and unusual restaurants. Eddie had just tagged along with very little effort made to fit in or show appreciation. Looking back, he wasn’t proud of it, perhaps he had just gotten too comfortable in their relationship or maybe he hadn’t cared? He could honestly not remember. Like many of his memories from that time, it had been colored by how their relationship had ended.

 

It was clearly time to make an effort and make John feel special. He had even left on time to make sure that John wouldn’t have to wait for them.

 

The street was dark and empty, but for Eddie and the sound of his too tight dress up shoes that he had dug out of the back of his closet. He hadn’t worn then since he got married. They had been uncomfortable back then too, but he had cared a lot less about it then.

 

For a moment he got lost in memories, remembering his wedding day and how happy they had been. They had been so young, so very young. Perhaps too young to have that kind of relationship. Maybe this was their chance to do it for real.

 

“Hey faggot!”

 

The shout that came through the night was enough to freeze his blood. Any queer man who had ever had those words thrown at them knew just how it felt and just what it could lead to. For a second, Eddie was ten again, tinny and defenseless, thirteen, out but not proud, sixteen and angry at everything, raising his chin up to met the punch. But as his eyes found the group of white middle aged men, wearing camouflage pants, trucker hats and various sports t-shirts he realized that they were not shouting at him. On the other side of the street, moving in opposite direction was a slim guy with a death grip on his backpack straps like he expected the drunks to rip it away from him like school yard bullies. He looked like he was coming home late from the library, just minding his own business when five grown men decided to ruin his night. His stalkers might be drunk, but drunk enough to excuse an bad behavior.

 

Eddie watches, feeling the hate grow. He despised these type of people. Those who think they are better than others and make the world worse every single day. 

 

That young man could have been him when he was the same age, before he put on more weight and muscles and learned how to throw a punch in pure sense of survival.  Growing up in Detroit as an open bisexual had not been easy and the drunk men’s slurs were steering up all those nasty emotions he had lived his life trying to escape. Gay men getting beaten up in the streets were everyday occurrences and it had happened to Eddie while people just stood there and looked away. The way things used to be, he might as well have been one of those people just standing there.

 

But things are not like they used to be, he got a trick up his sleeve now days.

 

“Hey, Venom. You wanted a homophobe, right?”

 

**“Yessss, to honour John.”**

 

“See those big human’s hunting the smaller one? Those are homophobes.”

 

Venom purred happily. **“Rage!”**

 

“Rage.” Eddie echoed with a smile as he crossed the street towards the gang.

 

“Fucking faggot incoming!” He shouted as he felt Venom slide out over his skin. He started to run, grinning as the gang turned to met him with raised fists and a growing look of horror on their faces. This was going to be fun.

 

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

 

The restaurant Eddie had picked was a lot nicer than John had expected. Maybe he should have googled it beforehand because he felt slightly under dressed without a suit and tie. Knowing what he knew about Eddie he had settled for a shirt and a nice pair of jeans. And hadn’t that been amazing? To get into a real pair of pants had been the best feeling aside from getting out of bed on his own two feet instead of the wheelchair. John was going to buy Venom so much chocolate for fixing his legs.

 

Eddie had never been on time for anything in his life so John had showed up ten minutes past their decided time and had just enough time to unbutton his coat before Eddie more or less stormed into the restaurant. 

 

“Sorry we are a bit late, we stopped to get Venom a snack.” He said in one breath, unzipping his jacket to show of what looked like a very nice suit and a perfectly done silk tie.

 

John nodded, trying to hide his surprise at both the time management and the outfit. “Probably a good idea, it’s not easy pulling up an extra chair for… our  _ dude _ .” He said, dragging out the last part like he was speaking a different language because he knew it would make Eddie smile.

 

They were both smiling when they were led to their table further towards the back, surrounded by bay windows, overlooking the water and candles on the table. The restaurant was a lot nicer than the type of places they used to go when they dated the first time around.

 

But a lot of things were different this time around.

 

They made small talk while going through the menus, teasing each other lightly over their choices and relaxing into their comfortable chairs. It felt easy and the conversation flowed easy as their food arrived and went on as they finished and ordered in desert. 

 

“How’s your mom?” John asked as the waiter left after filling up their wine glasses and placing delicious looking chocolate art works in front of them.

 

“Good, she’s good. She’s newly retired so she and some friends of her’s are in the Mediterranean right now on a cruise ship. Last I spoke to her she was having a blast.” Eddie made a face like he could only imagine what kind of things his mother was up to and he really didn’t want to know. “What about your dad?”

 

“Busy as usual.” He said, trying not to sound bitter. Journalism had really been a stone in his shoe in more ways than one all throughout his life. He had been back on earth for several weeks now and his own father couldn’t take time off work long enough to come visit him. After all these years, he was almost surprised that this could still hurt him when he knew that he would never be his top priority. 

 

Looking back, he wondered if some of his frustration with his father had been transferred over on to Eddie. He could remember getting unreasonably angry when Eddie would cancel something because of work. Like just the mentioning of work was enough to set him off. As he sat there, looking over the table at this older, more mature Eddie, he wondered for the first time, if the reason they had broken up had been just as much his fault as Eddies.

“You are different.” He said, running a finger along the foot of his glas. “Since we were together I mean. Calmer.”

 

Eddie nodded. “I burned out for a bit, a few years ago and I did a lot to learn how to relax. Tried to take up Yoga but that didn't really work outside of groups. I do a lot of meditation with these tapes and stuff.”

 

John made a interested noise. “I’ve never tried that, seemed to just be a lot a whale noise and hippies.”

 

Eddie grinned behind the rim of his glass. “It can be, if you don’t know what you are looking for.”

 

“But it worked for you?”

 

“Yeah, it really did. It helped me get back to my routines and not stress out as soon as something went wrong.”

 

John nodded, wondering how badly Eddie had suffered from the divorce. He had never even considered it back then, he had been too angry to even think about how Eddie had been feeling when he got kicked out and had all his belongings shoved out the door.

 

“So, how was space? Was it everything you dreamed about?” Eddie asked, clearly trying to change the subject. John figured they had the time to sort out all the old feelings and hurts, another time.

 

“Space was amazing. Zero gravity is like nothing I can even describe, it’s simply amazing.” He went on to talk about his crew with a bittersweet taste in his mouth. He still missed them every day but he had forgiven Venom for it’s part in the crash and had started seeing a psychologist to deal with his own guilt. Speaking of...

 

A thin black string snuck out from under Eddies sleeve, slivering alongside his hand, in under the edge of the napkin, making it bulge as if a small snake was crawling under it. The tiny black stump of a nose seemed to hesitate before quick as a rapture struck out and devoured a large chunk of Eddie's Chocolate fondue.

 

“ _ Hey _ .” Eddie protested quietly, whacking the tentacle with his spoon, making Venom pull its way back the way it came, leaving a sticky brown trail as it went. “If you wanted one too you should have said something… yeah well that’s not really my problem is it… no,  **_mine…_ ** fine, we’ll get one to go before we leave… fine, we’ll get two.” Eddie sighed, “sorry, what were you saying.”

 

John found himself smiling gently at the display. “I did pick you up a pretty cool souvenir from space didn’t I?”

 

Eddie laughed. “You sure did, I love it. “ He scooped up a spoonful of chocolate and John bit back a smile as it saw a tiny pink tongue rising out from under Eddies thumb nail and licking the spoon.

 

John smiled. “I’m pretty fond of it too.” He said, feeling truly happy with how everything had turned out. And this was only the beginning.


	12. Epilogue

Eddie yawned, scratching his chest lazily as he watched John standing nude in the doorway, the bathroom light surrounding his muscular body like a work of art. The day before had been stressful. Not only had they moved the last of his stuff into storage, they had also cleaned his old apartment and eaten a few more homophobes. Life was good. Their relationship were better then it had ever been before. Especially with Venom as the glue between them, holding them together and beating them over the head if they got stubborn and started falling back into old habits of just screaming at each other.

 

Sometimes he could hardly believe that they were back together, it was amazing and Eddie was never going to do anything to jeopardize it again. 

 

Eddie yawned. He should get up. He didn’t have to meet up the crew until this afternoon but he should look through his notes to prepare for the next episode of the Brock report. Instead his eyes went back to John’s seriously sexy body that he had spent a lot of time re-learning.

 

Venom hung circling around Johns neck, like a thick sentient necklaces as the man brushed his teeth. It was cute how Venom would slip between the two of them. It usually went to Eddie when it wanted pets and cuddles while it practically jumped to John when it wanted to go exploring.

 

Eddie looked closer at Venom who's head was hanging down over Johns collarbone.

 

He suddenly had a thought and fumbled for his phone on the nightstand. Unlocking it, he got the camera going and adapted to the dim room. This was going to be good.

 

“Hey Venom.” He called out.

 

The tiny little lump of a head rose up at it’s name.

 

“Stretch down to cover John's dick would you.” He asked, biting back his smile not to give his idea away.

 

John blinked sleepily with his toothbrush stuck his cheek as Venom sank down to encase his cock and balls. 

 

Eddie got about five seconds of photos while giggling hysterically before John figured it out and protested. Venom was just grinning at the attention and the resulting picture was out of this world.

 

John, half asleep with toothpaste all over his mouth like he had rabies with Venom stretching down from his neck to make the happiest if scariest looking Mankini the world had ever seen.

 

“Delete that!” John demanded around his toothbrush.

 

“Never!” Eddie shouted over his shoulder as he ran towards the door. He almost made it, only Venom had latched a hold of him, dragging him laughing back towards the bed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to my beta readers, Victoria and Olivia who took the time to wade through this swamp of a story. I'm very grateful <3


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